world maps
Earth's flat portraits
World maps are representations of the Earth's entire surface on a flat plane.
Because the Earth is spherical, all world maps involve some distortion—of area, shape, distance, or direction.
The familiar Mercator projection exaggerates landmasses near the poles, making Greenland appear as large as Africa.
Different projections serve different purposes: The world map on the classroom wall showed all the continents.
- globeSpherical representation of landmasses
- mapmakingCreating geographical charts
- atlasBound collection of charts
- geographyStudy of places
- portolan chartsMedieval coastal navigation maps
projection · oceans · countries · antique maps · longitude · continents · nautical charts · chart · sea monsters · here be dragons · terra incognita · uncharted territory · historical maps · political boundaries · latitude · compass rose · exploration routes · coastlines
- map typescity maps, street maps, highway maps, road atlas, tourist maps
- World Referenceencyclopedia, reference book
- ancient historical atlasesRoman Empire, ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, ancient civilizations, Persian Empire
- ancient mapsold maps, nautical charts, ancient maps, portolan charts, maritime charts
- geographic artlandscape art, landscapes, landscape painting, seascapes, cityscapes
- geography roomsglobes, atlases, relief maps, topographic maps, political maps
world mapscity maps
Urban area diagrams
neighborhood maps · street maps · regional maps · floor plans · property surveys
world, mapped, mapping, map, unmapped, world map, cartographer, cartography, cartographic