Disclosure : This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.

Why North is Up: Map Conventions and Where They Came From

Many people have a love of maps. But what lies behind the process of map-making? How have cartographers through the centuries developed their craft and established a language of maps which helps them to better represent our world and users to understand it? This book tells the story of how widely accepted mapping conventions originated and evolved – from map orientation, projections, typography and scale, to the use of colour, map symbols, ways of representing relief and the treatment of boundaries and place names. It charts the fascinating story of how conventions have changed in response to new technologies and ever-changing mapping requirements, how symbols can be a matter of life or death, why universal acceptance of conventions can be difficult to achieve and how new mapping conventions are developing to meet the needs of modern cartography.Here is an accessible and enlightening guide to the sometimes hidden techniques of map-making through the centuries.

Related Products:

The Story of Tutankhamun Britain`s Tree Story Pinpoint: How GPS is Changing Our World The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are Else/where: Mapping How to Draw a Map Mapping the Past: A Search for Five Brothers at the Edge of Empire Never Lost Again: The Google Mapping Revolution That Sparked New Industries and Augmented Our Reality Okehampton and North Dartmoor 1919 Cosmos: The Story of Cosmic Evolution, Science and Civilisation Okehampton & North Dartmoor 1899-1900 – 191 A Matter of Death and Life When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir Admiralty Chart 164 – North and North-East Approaches to Massawa Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North Admiralty Chart 4053 – North Pacific Ocean North Western Part Terra Incognita: 100 Maps to Survive the Next 100 Years Blood and Land: The Story of Native North America Default ThumbnailDartmoor North Harvey Superwalker XT25 Default ThumbnailA History of the 20th Century in 100 Maps Ordnance Survey Maps: A Concise Guide for Historians The Narrow Road to the Deep North: Winner of the 2014 Man Booker Prize Shetland: Mainland North West – North Roe & Sullom Voe OS Explorer Map 469 (paper) Shetland: Mainland North West – North Roe & Sullom Voe OS Explorer Active Map 469 (waterproof) The Story of Trees: And How They Changed the Way We Live Black British Lives Matter: A Clarion Call for Equality Church Monuments Bavaria North – Baden-Wurttemberg North/East 2-Map Cycling Set Kompass 3710 Sixty Degrees North: Around the World in Search of Home Lower Saxony West – North Rhine-Westphalia North 2-Map Cycling Set Kompass 3704 Connectography: Mapping the Global Network Revolution Mapping India North America Michelin Large Format Atlas 2021 – USA – Canada – Mexico Edinburgh: Mapping the City Netherlands North Michelin Regional 531 A Slice through America: A Geological Atlas Default ThumbnailWindsor (North) 1868 – 32.53 Blackpool North Shore 1910-1938 NGA Chart 121 – North Atlantic Ocean, North Sheet A Brief History of Thailand: Monarchy, War and Resilience: The Fascinating Story of the Gilded Kingdom at the Heart of Asia