Cartography

Distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of something, such as an object, image, sound or waveform.

A geodetic datum or geodetic system is a coordinate system, and a set of reference points, used to locate places on the Earth (or similar objects).

Geomatics (including geomatics engineering), also known as geospatial science (including geospatial engineering and geospatial technology), is the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information or spatially referenced information.

Cartography, or mapmaking, has been an integral part of the human history for a long time, possibly up to 8,000 years.

A circle of latitude on the Earth is an imaginary east–west circle connecting all locations (ignoring elevation) with a given latitude.

Croquis drawing is quick and sketchy drawing of a live model.

A map is a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, and themes.

Photogrammetry is the science of making measurements from photographs, especially for recovering the exact positions of surface points.

Topography is the study of the shape and features of the surface of the Earth and other observable astronomical objects including planets, moons, and asteroids.

A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value.

A globe is a three-dimensional, spherical, scale model of Earth (terrestrial globe or geographical globe) or other celestial body such as a planet or moon.

The scale of a map is the ratio of a distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground.

The Geography (Greek: Γεωγραφικὴ Ὑφήγησις, Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, lit. "Geographical Guidance"), also known by its Latin names as the Geographia and the Cosmographia, is a gazetteer, an atlas, and a treatise on cartography, compiling the geographical knowledge of the 2nd-century Roman Empire.

Selenography is the study of the surface and physical features of the Moon.

A choropleth map (from Greek χῶρος ("area/region") + πλῆθος ("multitude")) is a thematic map in which areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable being displayed on the map, such as population density or per-capita income.

Chorography (from χῶρος khōros, "place" and γράφειν graphein, "to write") is the art of describing or mapping a region or district, and by extension such a description or map.

Commonly, a map projection is a systematic transformation of the latitudes and longitudes of locations on the surface of a sphere or an ellipsoid into locations on a plane.

A prime meridian is a meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographical coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°.

Geoinformatics is the science and the technology which develops and uses information science infrastructure to address the problems of geography, cartography, geosciences locations and related branches of science and engineering.

In navigation, a rhumb line, rhumb, or loxodrome is an arc crossing all meridians of longitude at the same angle, i.

Terrain or relief is an essential aspect of physical geography, and as such its portrayal presents a central problem in cartography, and more recently GIS and geovisualization.

Terrain rendering covers a variety of methods of depicting real-world or imaginary world surfaces.

Complex issues arise in spatial analysis, many of which are neither clearly defined nor completely resolved, but form the basis for current research.

3D data acquisition and reconstruction is the generation of three-dimensional or spatiotemporal models from sensor data.

(Not to be confused with Ghost town.) Phantom settlements, or paper towns, are settlements that appear on maps but do not actually exist.

Robotic mapping is a discipline related to cartography.

Maximum elevation figure or MEF is a type of VFR altitude which indicates the height of the highest feature within a quadrangle area.

A rhumbline network, or more properly a windrose network, is a navigational aid drawn on portolan charts.