3. Graphics libraries for cartography

Maps are specialised documents that accurately represent a physical area. Maps are used to navigate around the physical area they represent so it is very important that everything is spacially accurate in relation to one another.

A map should come with a scale such as 1:25,000. This allows actual distances to be measured directly from the map.

The map may be for a city, so it would include street and building symbols. Alternatively it might represent a mountain range and so you would see symbols for natural elements such as marsh or waterfall. The map may be of the sea, in which case it is called a 'chart', map symbols are added to represent depth and objects such as a wreck or a reef.

The map design software will come with a graphics library. It will contain standard symbols for each object such as church, marsh, motorway, forest and so on depending on what kind of map is being designed.