Update or expand this article!      Update or expand this
article!     We welcome suggested improvements to any of our
articles.   Article Free Pass  map, graphic representation,
drawn to scale and usually on a flat surface, of features—for
example, geographical, geological, or geopolitical—of an area of
the Earth or of any other celestial body. Globes are maps
represented on the surface of a sphere. Cartography is the art
and science of making maps and charts.  In order to imply the
elements of accurate relationships, and some formal method of
projecting the spherical subject to a map plane, further
qualifications might be applied to the definition. The tedious
and somewhat abstract statements resulting from attempts to
formulate precise definitions of maps and charts are more likely
to confuse than to clarify. The words map, chart, and plat are
used somewhat interchangeably. The connotations of use, however,
are distinctive: charts for navigation purposes (nautical and
aeronautical), plats (in a property-bo