Demand for Maps

Why Do we Need Maps

This learning unit introduces the concept of cartography, and why it is necessary to create maps. This learning unit serves as an introduction into the lesson "Presentation and Visualisation Needs ", and does not need prerequisites.

Maps provide a useful structure for storing geographic knowledge and experience. Without them, it would be difficult, even impossible to orient ourselves in large environments. We would be dependent on the close and familiar world of personal experience. Moreover, maps give us means not only to store spatially distributed information, but also to analyse and compare it, as well as generalise or abstract it (Southworth 1982).