Map

A map is a simplified depiction of a space, a navigational aid which highlights relations between objects within that space. Most usually a map is a two-dimensional, geometrically accurate representation of a three-dimensional space. The science and art of map-making is cartography.

Orientation of maps

Conventionally, on most geometrically accurate maps text is upright when the map is oriented with the north up, hence north is identified with the top of a sheet.

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Maps that don't put north at the top:

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• Polar maps
• Dymaxion maps
• Some rectangular maps produced in Australia show the south pole at the top. To someone used to seeing the map the other way around, this map may appear to be "upside down". These are primarily intended as novelty and tourist maps.
• Other modern maps put south on top, generally either out of a sense of playful confusion or to make a political statement about the North-South divide.
• Old maps of Edo show the Japanese imperial palace as the "top," but also at the centre, of the map. Labels on the map are oriented in such a way that you cannot read them properly unless you put the imperial palace above your head.
• Medieval European T and O maps such as the Hereford Mappa Mundi were centred on Jerusalem, with East at the top.

If a person is located at an identifiable point within the area of such a map, then the map can be oriented in such a way that every point on the map lies in the same direction as the corresponding point in reality. The practice of navigating in this way is orienteering.

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For a vertically positioned map representing a horizontal area true orientation is not possible, of course, but it is sometimes approximated by putting the forward direction up.

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Occasionally a map is on a ceiling, correctly showing directions; in that case, looking up we have in clockwise direction forward, left, backward, and right. If the map is prepared on a table, to be attached to the ceiling, then on the table it is a mirror image of a normal map.

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