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Jump to: navigation, search  Mapping is creating graphic
representations of information using spatial relationships
within the graphic to represent some relationships within the
data. The common and original practice of mapping is the scaled
portrayal of geographical features, that is, cartography. In the
contemporary sense of data visualization, it includes
metaphorical extensions of geographical map conventions and
literacies to other kinds of data, as well as innovative ways of
visualizing data not clearly related to the geographical
archetype. In popular vernacular, mapping can just mean
organizing or systematizing information.  In maps, aspects of
the image are analogs for values in the information being
presented. In geographical maps the images can correlate
directly to geo-spacial properties, or they may symbolize
abstractions such as political borders. Traditionally, the paper
(or plane) represents the surface of the earth.  Contemporary