Glossary of Map Words
Atlas
A book or bound collection of maps, sometimes with supplementary illustrations and graphic analyses.
Axis
An imaginary line the Earth rotates around. When speaking about maps
and globes it's the line that measurements are made from to determine a
specific location.
Borders
Borders offer a lot to enhancing any map. Borders can be anything from a
simple line to elaborate decoration with ornamental motifs. When using
an ornamental motif, choose one that matches the map... whether
influenced by the culture of the geographic region, a particular
historic feature, or a symbol of the native flora and fauna..
Cartouche
A cartouche is a frame with a decorative border. Usually they contain a
title, a scale, or other information about the map. Simple designs are
just rectangular or oval frames. But they may be highly decorative as
seen in antique maps. Borders can be made to look architectural, or look
like carved wood, scrolled leather, or ropes..
Cartography
The art or technique of making maps or charts. A cartographer is a person who makes maps.
Central meridian
- A line running north and south at the center of a map , which has been
divided into squares so the map can be put into other dimensions. All
the points along the line have the same longitude.
Circa (c)
. The word Circa and its symbol (c.) means
approximate. When dating old maps sometimes the precise date of issue is
not known so an approximate date e.g. c.1759 is used to define a period
of time when the cartographer flourished and was known to have worked
on similar maps.
Color
By Pierre Joppen, Sep 25, 2005
Colouring of maps
1. Contemporary Colour. Colouring varies with old maps. When they were
produced some maps were fully coloured at the time, some were partly
coloured, some were coloured in outline, and many not coloured at all.
When maps were coloured at or close to the time of production it is
referred to as contemporary colour as it is contemporary to the printing
of the map. Maps were originally coloured to enhance appearance and
readability. Generally three or four colours (green, pink, orange and
yellow) distinguished political subdivisions, black was used for names,
red coloured cathedrals or other buildings distinguish large cities and
blue stands for water.
2. Modern Colour. Often older maps issued without colour have colour
added in whole or in part. Any colour added long after the map was
issued is referred to as modern colour. Modern colour can be skillfully
applied or less so but it usually is in outline and may or may not be
historically correct. If it is skillfully applied and historically
correct it is often difficult to distinguish from contemporary colour.
If you are in doubt you can ask a map dealer. Usually they can
distinguish between the two.
3. Pros and Cons. Most dealers and collectors agree that contemporary
full colour is best and that bad modern colour is undesirable but after
that there is substantial lack of agreement. Many uncoloured maps are
much more attractive with skillfully applied modern colour. A few
collectors prefer maps only as originally issued coloured or not but
most dealers agree that skillful modern colour enhances interest and
thus value of many maps. It is very much an individual collectors
choice.
Compass Roses
Illustrated device that illustrates where north is. The design from a
compass card, engraved on a chart for navigators to set their bearings
on a pre-selected course and by which bearings of visible objects may be
taken to fix a ship's position on a chart.A different kind of compass
is always used for drawing and measuring circles Nothing says a graphic
is a map more than a compass rose because is so linked to maps.
Equator
- Also known as the equinoctial line. This is an
imaginary circle around Earth, halfway from the poles and perpendicular
to the Earth's axis of rotation. It divides the Earth in half into the
Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.
Figures, plants, animals, and architecture
Including ornamental objects on a map brings whimsy and liveliness to a
map. Early map-makers often included figures in local or national
costumes and pursuing local interests such as hunting or farming.
Local vegetation were also treated as symbols of local fauna. Instead of
the modern method of marking forest areas with just a green color, old
maps would engrave individual trees marking the forest and the type of
trees composing the forest.
Groupings of all the items could be composed to create the identity of
the region. Economic products were frequently shown as a cornucopia of
the local workers, fish, vegetables, and fruit.
Buildings can be added to give a taste of the vernacular architecture.
Modes of travel have been part of maps for a long time. Ships are a frequent ornaments on the oceans of old maps.
Heraldry
Although it has little modern usage, heraldry gives the opportunity to
capture history and tradition on the map in appropriate areas. Heraldic
symbols also tend to be dignified designs with rich colors.Many Bleau
maps had numerous heraldic seals on them.
Insets
Insets can be used to good effect to fill empty spaces on a map. Common
forms include a plan of a principal city and the location of the mapped
area referenced to the continent, country, or other easily-recognized
area.
Latitude
- The angular distance in degrees, minutes and seconds measured from the
center of the Earth to a point north and south of the Equator. It's a
system used to locate positions on Earth.
Legends
A legend shows symbols used on the map referenced to their meanings.
Legends may be enclosed in a frame, cartouche, or may stand alone
blended into the map like a vignette..
Longitude
The angular distance of a point on the earth's surface east or west of
an arbitrarily defined meridian, usually the Greenwich meridian
(Greenwich, England).
Mercator projection By Pierre Joppen, Jul 7, 2004
A cylindrical map projection introduced in 1569 by the famous Flemish
mathematician and geographer Gerhard Mercator. Originally named Gerhard
Krämer (meaning "trader" in German), his name was latinized (a
fashionable practice among scholars of the day) to Mercator, meaning
"world-trader". This conformal projection is still commonly used for
world maps, on which rhumb lines are represented as straight lines,
making this projection very useful for navigation.
Meridian
From the Latin 'medius' meaning middle and
'dies' meaning day. A semi great circle joining the earth's poles known
as lines of Longitude crossing the equator and all parallels of Latitude
at right angles.
Neat Line
. This is an engraved line that is drawn around the perimeter of the map's image.
Octavo
A paper size approximately 8"X9". Bound into a book it is folded in half three times. Abbreviation 8vo.
Outline Color.
Hand color that is applied to old maps only around the land boundaries and the seacoast.
Plate-mark.
A slightly raised border around a map made by the impression of the copper or steel plate used in engraving a map or print.
Quarto.
A sheet of paper folded in half twice with dimensions approximately 9"X11". Abbreviation: 4to.
Recto and Verso
. Recto is the front side of a page. Verso is the reverse.
Re-margined.
A map that has had a margin added or
extended generally to add space for matting when framing. Maps published
in atlases sometimes had narrow margins along the bound edges and
sometimes when maps were issued two or three to a page, they have been
cut into individual images requiring margins to be added on two or three
sides.
Rhumb Lines.
Lines on the earth's surface which intersect
all Meridians at the same angle. Meridians and parallels of Latitude
are rhumb lines. Rhumb lines which cut Meridians at oblique angles are
called Loxodromic curves. The radial lines on a compass are also called
rhumbs. On early charts rhumb lines are drawn radiating out from a
compass rose.
Rococo
. An 18th century French style of ornamentation
that included leaf, flower, shell and scroll motifs, often used as
frames or cartouches surrounding the title on 18th century maps. A style
much used by Jacques Nicolas Bellin, Hydrographer to the King in Paris
in the 18th century to decorate his maps and charts.
Winds
Antique maps frequently feature faces and heads blowing winds from the
four corners of the world. Winds can be an important addition to a map
attempting to capture the antique old-map feeling.
Scale
Scale is important to interpreting distance on the map. Although
accuracy is not so important on decorative maps, they are an important
feature of a map and give a good opportunity for decorative treatement.
Old maps featured them in cartouches and vignettes. They are frequently
shown with some sort of dividers, a measuring tool used to calculate
distances on maps.
Scale may be represented in one of three ways...
* Words such as "one inch equals one mile".
* Fraction 1 : 63,000, meaning one inch on the map is 63,000 inches in the real world.
* Line divided into units that visually show the unit of length on
the map and gives the distance in the real world. This tends to be best
because it expands or shrinks in proportion if the map is enlarged or
reduced in size. It also gives the greatest opportunity for
embellishment.
Tropic of Cancer
- .It's the latitude of 23 degrees 27'
north. The Tropic of Cancer is the farthest North the sun can go. When
it gets there, it's summer solstice for the Northern Hemisphere. This
usually happens around June 21st and is the longest time of daylight in
the Northern Hemisphere.
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Tropic of Capricorn
- The latitude is 23 degrees, 27'
south. The Tropic of Capricorn is as far south as the sun can go. When
it gets there, it's winter solstice. This usually takes place around
December 21st and is the shortest period of daylight in the Northern
Hemisphere.
Vignettes
While sixteenth-century Flemish map-makers preferred the highly
decorated cartouche for their maps, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
map-makers preferred the vignette. In the vignette figures and country
scenes previously contained in the framed cartouche lost their frame and
were blended into the map.
Winds
Antique maps frequently feature faces and heads blowing winds from the
four corners of the world. Winds can be an important addition to a map
attempting to capture the antique old-map feeling.