Along with the mathematical and statistical cartographic method, it studies the source information and has various ways of processing it. Thus, research is carried out using the construction of geographical maps with special figurative and symbolic spatial models. The cartographic method is indispensable in the system of methods for studying population, for example.
Earth model
On geographical maps — reduced generalized images of the plane of the earth’s surface — connections, combinations, placement of objects and phenomena are selected that are selected and characterized according to the purpose of this map. The cartographic method is used in geography, ethnography, and a number of other sciences, as well as in practical activities, since it is highly informative, visual, and metric, that is, available for various kinds of measurements.
For example, information on demographics and the settlement of peoples is also contained in the so-called topographic maps (general geographical). Such cards were distributed in the middle of the XIX century. They show density, abundance, even the potential for resettlement, types of settlements, the composition and reproduction of people, their migration, and much more.
What are the cards
To study the world’s population, there are anthropological and ethnographic maps where you can observe the settlement of peoples, the spread of national cultures, everyday life, and anthropometric characteristics. The cartographic method is very important in the study of social and economic characteristics; the maps show the social status, living standards in the regions, labor resources, their use and much, much more.
Cartography uses a special sign system, special image methods are cartographic, with icons, diagrams, cartograms, the point method is used, ranges, contours, different background quality, motion signs are significant or spatial, reflecting the properties of objects. A geographic map can be physical, political, geological, landscape, and so on. There are quite a few species.
Classification
The map is classified according to geography by its purpose or by territorial attribute, by scale, and by content. The latter is the most important. It is the content that relates a particular map to a thematic view or a general geographical one. First of all, you need to look at the territorial scope: it depicts a separate region, country, mainland or is it a world map. Next are the methods of cartographic image, including scale. There are small-scale, medium-scale and large-scale maps. Of course, the accuracy and detail in them will vary.
It is important to know the purpose of the card, that is, what it is intended for. If there is a use of geographical maps for scientific analysis, these are scientific reference maps. Designed to popularize ideas or individual knowledge - cultural and educational. There are many types of educational cards that play the role of visual aids, which study such sciences as history, geography, geology, and many other disciplines. Among them, contour maps occupy a special place.
Content
If in the process of solving any technical problems it is necessary to display certain conditions and objects, technical maps are used. Touristic maps are widespread, which depict all the settlements with landmarks, attractions, travel routes, places of rest, overnight stays and so on by type of tourism. The methods of cartographic image here are very similar to navigational and road maps.
Physical general geographic maps display everything related to geographical phenomena - the entire topography and all hydrography, the characteristics of the vegetative soil cover, all settlements and economic objects, all borders and communications. The State Cartography Service is engaged in both the registration of objects and the cadastre. This is Rosreestr. Large-scale physical maps with all objects of the area are called topographic, and the same medium-sized topographic-survey maps. Small-scale physical maps are always just overviews.
Theme
Thematically, the cards are significantly different from each other. They can show everything from the location of objects to the dynamics and relationships of natural phenomena, from the social sphere and economy to population growth and decline. It is possible to divide cards on a thematic basis into two groups: those that study natural phenomena, and those that are devoted to social phenomena. Cartography is a fairly ancient science, you can begin to study it literally with cave paintings. But it really got its development not so long ago. Especially this process accelerated with the beginning of the development of airspace and space.
Thus, detailed maps of natural phenomena were compiled, which cover absolutely the entire natural environment in all its combinations. These are geological and geophysical maps, with details of the surface of the earth and the ocean floor, climatic and meteorological, botanical and oceanographic, soil and hydrological, maps of geographical and physical landscapes and minerals, and so on. Social and political maps have already been paid attention to, but a complete list of them is also quite difficult to issue.
Cartography Usage Methods
In addition to the maps, which describe everything about the population, there are historical, political, economic and socio-geographical maps, and each of these subspecies also has a structural division, which is very extensive. An example of a cartographic method in geography is economic maps. There is industry there - general and branch, and agriculture, and fishing industry, and transport, and communications, and much more that is studied in detail. A special sign system is always used, which is the basis of the cartographic method of research in almost any science, and statistics always provide material for performing cartographic work.
Of the methods of using maps in scientific analysis, very many are used, among which the most relevant are graphic techniques, visual analysis, cartometric works (measuring coordinates, distances, calculating the population density and uniformity of mineral deposits, etc.), mathematical and statistical analysis, mathematical modeling, construction of derivative maps after processing cartographic images and so on. In any case, the basis of the cartographic research method is reliance on the accuracy and reliability of statistics.
Application
Scientific analysis today is impossible to imagine without the help of the cartographic method. The entire study of the Earth is built on it: geology, geography, geochemistry, geophysics, oceanology and all planetology, the results of the research are put on the map, then summarized and analyzed. This is how new hypotheses are formed and formulated, so forecasts are compiled and verified. Almost all branches of knowledge to varying degrees, but rely on mapping.
For example, geomorphology composes the entire structure from terrain information obtained from topographic maps. And for medical geography, maps are compiled with areas of the occurrence of epidemics and diseases according to socio-economic and natural maps. The most striking example is planetology. The patterns of the surface structure of our planet and any other celestial bodies are compiled on the basis of maps and photographs. So we learn the ocean floor, where just like deep space, man has never visited. The cartography method gives all sciences a single language by which the world is known. Neither electronics, nor physics, nor technology can do without cartography, just as without mathematics.
Relations with the sciences
Almost all socio-economic, philosophical, natural, technical sciences and almost all scientific disciplines are closely connected with cartography, since interaction occurs with all branches of knowledge. The cartographic method of cognition is most closely connected with planetary sciences - geographical, environmental, geological and many others. The cartographer is armed with the knowledge that is necessary to correctly reflect the typical features, features, characteristics of certain phenomena that are included in the content of specific maps.
Sociology, economics, demography, history, archeology and other socio-economic sciences also provide thematic mapping with specific content. Thus, new cartographic methods appeared - network planning, mathematical modeling, for example. In philosophy, the basis of this method is now the theory of reflection, theory of modeling, logic, system analysis. The concepts of cartography, sign system, modeling methods, system mapping were developed.
Help from other sciences
Geodesy, topography, gravimetry, astronomy inform the science of cartography more and more accurate data on the size and shape of the Earth and alien planets, which provides the basis for compiling thematic and physical (general geographic) maps. Mathematical analysis, trigonometry, geometry, statistical data of probability theory and set theory, mathematical logic and other sciences are exclusively widely used for constructing cartographic projections, creating algorithms, mathematical-cartographic modeling, using maps in programs, and developing information systems.
Instrument making, printing, chemical technology, electronics, laser and semiconductor technology, as well as many other industries are present when creating mapping systems. New sciences - remote sensing: space, underwater and aerial photography, image decryption, photometry, photogrammetry, monitoring help to compile and update maps, create digital information bases and participate in many other cartographic processes. Geoinformatics most closely interacts with cartography. Atlases and maps are the main source of temporal and spatial information for modeling.
Ways and tricks
The cartographic method is always used to study patterns: how spatially placed are the phenomena, how they are interconnected, how much they depend on each other, how they develop, and so on. There are a lot of application methods for the analysis and processing of geographical maps, therefore only the most basic ones will be considered here.
Visual analysis is when spatial maps, combinations, connections, dynamics of each phenomenon are visually examined using maps. Graphical analysis - when profiles and sections are constructed on the maps, giving vertical visibility to structural phenomena; block diagrams are built where the image of the terrain in perspective and vertical sections are combined; various graphs and charts.
Cartometric work
Maps determine the coordinates, lengths, heights, distances, areas, volumes, angles and the like, that is, the quantitative characteristics of the objects that are shown on the map. Further, mathematical and statistical analysis is used to study the homogeneity of phenomena (temperature, population density, productivity and any other parameters) to determine their distribution and changes over time, which are determined by so many factors, and their functional dependence is unknown.
The next step is mathematical modeling, which creates a spatial mathematical model, a description using mathematics of processes or phenomena based on the source data taken from the maps. Then the model is investigated, the phenomena are interpreted and explained, the maps are processed, converted into derivatives that are convenient and intended for a particular study (for example, the steepness of the slopes when studying soil erosion processes and predicting them).
Analysis
When analyzing maps of various contents, the conclusions about the relationships and the scope of research generally expand significantly. This is a comprehensive mapping method. So topographic maps and thematic industry maps are compared - soil, geological, geobotanical and the like. For example, when studying the natural relationships between the soil and topographic maps of a particular region, it can be established that the soil contours are most often confined to individual relief elements.
Solonchaks to lacustrine depressions, also chernozems to the bottom of valleys and gullies, alluviality to river floodplains. Further, the pattern in the soil contour pattern is determined: solonetzes and solonchaks are rounded, within the boundaries of the old-grain basins, meadow chernozem soils are horizontal, and then you can continue and continue. Sometimes even a visual analysis is enough to establish the first relationships. Further cartometric works reinforce, refine and detail the initial conclusions with qualitative and quantitative characteristics.