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[[Image:Physical_world.jpg|thumb|333px|right|Physical map of the Earth.]] | [[Image:Physical_world.jpg|thumb|333px|right|Physical map of the Earth.]] | ||
Geographic maps are abstract representations of the world. It is, of course, this abstraction that makes them useful. [[Lewis Carroll]] made this point humorously in ''Sylvie and Bruno'' with his mention of a fictional map that had "the scale of a mile to the mile". A character notes some practical difficulties with this map and states that "we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well". This concept is elaborated in a one-paragraph story by | Geographic maps are abstract representations of the world. It is, of course, this abstraction that makes them useful. [[Lewis Carroll]] made this point humorously in ''Sylvie and Bruno'' with his mention of a fictional map that had "the scale of a mile to the mile". A character notes some practical difficulties with this map and states that "we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well". This concept is elaborated in a one-paragraph story by Jorge Luis Borges, generally known in English as "[[On Exactitude in Science]]". | ||
Road maps are perhaps the most widely used maps today, and form a subset of navigational maps, which also include aeronautical and [[nautical chart]]s, railroad network maps, and hiking and bicycling maps. In terms of quantity, the largest number of drawn map sheets is probably made up by local surveys, carried out by municipalities, utilities, tax assessors, emergency services providers, and other local agencies. Many national surveying projects have been carried out by the military, such as the British [[Ordnance Survey]] (now a civilian government agency internationally renowned for its comprehensively detailed work). | Road maps are perhaps the most widely used maps today, and form a subset of navigational maps, which also include aeronautical and [[nautical chart]]s, railroad network maps, and hiking and bicycling maps. In terms of quantity, the largest number of drawn map sheets is probably made up by local surveys, carried out by municipalities, utilities, tax assessors, emergency services providers, and other local agencies. Many national surveying projects have been carried out by the military, such as the British [[Ordnance Survey]] (now a civilian government agency internationally renowned for its comprehensively detailed work). |