Articles about maps

First maps appeared long time ago, when men first began to explore outward things and to travel. Maps carry information about things that surround us. Exactly this information was collected by all travelers while marking on the map contours of lakes and rivers.

Upsurge in the cartography is closely connected with the invention of such device as compass. With the help of this device maps became more accurate and detailed and it became more convenient to travel for a long distance. Next milestone in cartographic is associated with aeronautics. From a bird's-eye view locality became more vivid and relative position of objects -more exact. And when men began to make photos of objects, cartographers received more and more detailed information.

World wars also had a great influence on the developing of maps:  one who knew more information about locality had an advantage in a battlefield. The artillery during the Second World War shelled using only maps without seeing an enemy. Cold War, which followed the Second World War, has only increased the effort to create and update topographic maps.

One another milestone in cartography is connected with the appearance of digital devices. Information is now stored in digital form not on paper as it used to be. Global positioning system (GPS) became a crown of modern cartographic. The accurateness of every modern GPS device is less than 5 meter and memory size is enough to contain all detailed vector maps of the world. Who could imagine this invention 20 years ago…?