Human beings need to know the place they inhabit and follow certain paths to reach other places. For this, it is essential to create a consultation tool: cartography.
From the moment man began to describe the earth’s surface, maps emerged, the fundamental elements of cartographic knowledge.
A historical brushstroke
Since prehistory, our ancestors made sketches of the places where they hunted. The first civilizations perfected the elaboration of maps through two basic knowledge: mathematics and astronomy. the knowledgecartographic mapping of Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Greek culture made it possible to discover new horizons and negotiate with other peoples. However, during the Christian Middle Ages, there was a setback in cartographic knowledge because an interpretation based on the theological view of the world was imposed. On the other hand, the Islamic world tried to improve the elaboration of maps. At the end of the Middle Ages, the strength of navigation allowed a significant development of cartography, especially through the improvement of certain instruments such as the compass, astrolabe and logbooks. All of this favored the creation of the World Map from the 16th century onwards. Cartography
In the 19th century topographical cartography as a discipline was born . In this way, the maps that originally appeared as a tool for communication became a language elaborated with norms, techniques and conventions.
The history of maps is associated with the great geographic discoveries, the arrival of man on the moon, military planning and the social development of nations. In recent decades, the traditional paper-based map has become obsolete with the emergence of GPS navigation adapted to computer programs.
the cartographic system
Projection systems are the geometric solution that allows the transfer of the Earth’s curvature to a document, that is, to a map. To achieve this, it is necessary to alter terrestrial shapes, surfaces, angles and distances. In function of the modification of one aspect or another do we get a kind of projection, leading to a mode of representation or map that will be different from the reality geographic. Cartography
In most countries, the official cartography system is the UTM grid, which is a universal coordinate model (UTM, Universal Transverse Merator). This coordinate system is based on the elliptical shape of the Earth and is named after the 16th century geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator. Cartography
