A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space.
Cartography, or map-making is the study and, often, practice, of crafting representations of the Earth upon a flat surface, and one who makes maps is called a cartographer.
Road maps are perhaps the most widely used maps today, and form a subset of navigational maps, which also include aeronautical and nautical charts, 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).
A map can also be any document giving information as to where or what something is.
There Are a Vast range of maps available of the UK and its road network.
Ordnance Survey[]
The Best known being the Ordnance survey maps, which come in a wide variety of scales and types depicting various levels of detail. They have a history of creating maps going back to 1791. Originally they were the armies Surveys, working to map the country so they had an accurate picture for military purposes.
The country is divided up into large and small squares with each Large area having a 2 digit code to represent it. This enable any ware to have a unique code called a grid reference assigned to it.
The Most common being;
- Land Ranger series at 1:50,000, which cover the whole country in 204 sheets.
- List of Landranger Maps
- Outdoor Leisure series at 1:25,000 of tourist areas
- Path finder series at 1:25,000
Atlases[]
A wide rang of Atlases and Street guides are published aimed at drivers.
- AA
- RAC
- Collins
- Bartholomew
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Satellite navigation systems use GPS and Digital mapping to locate your position and up date it as you move on a small map overlay.