TrackLogs

Digital Mapping

Let’s compare digital mapping with the old way of creating maps. In the old days, cartographers would spend days and nights at a map, drawing each element in ink. Such work was very painstaking, and the labour involved was simply unjustified. The technology for mapping has now changed significantly, and computers now do all the hard work – and much faster. During the processing of cartographic information on the PC, special automated systems are used, which have great functionality, consisting of the tools needed to create maps. Due to their flexibility, automated mapping systems provide a lot of possibilities for modern cartographers, which really simplify and improve the process of terrain illustration.

Digital Cartography is an integral part of cartography. It studies and develops the theory and methods of creating digital and electronic maps, as well as the automation of cartographic work.

Nowadays a very high level of automation prevails, and it affects almost all spheres of human activity. Due to such technological advances, digital cartography, which is the computer processing and analysis of cartographic information, has emerged. To date, digital cartography is the most popular in its scientific field, because now the creation of any cartographic images is carried out exactly on the computer.
 
Digital cartography cannot be called a separate discipline or section. Rather, it is an effective tool that allows convenient and fast processing of cartographic data using a PC. However, the impact of digital mapping on science is really strong, and this way of mapping has fundamentally changed the way the territory is visualised.
 
 

Advantages of using digital mapping

Digital mapping has the following advantages over traditional cartography:
 
-practically, the possibility of error is eliminated. In the old days, cartographers had to work hard to describe a map as accurately as possible. Unfortunately, more often than not, cartographers failed to depict the space, its dimensions and specifics correctly. In modern cartography, such an error is ruled out, as many complex calculations are performed by a computer. This greatly simplifies the cartographer’s work, making it faster and more productive;
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saving of labour resources. If cartographers in the modern world had not used automation as they do now, one map would have cost a fortune, as it would have required an unthinkable amount of labour. Now, thanks to specially developed systems, it is relatively easy to create maps, which affects their price;

Editability. If you have made a map, but the terrain has changed (forest has been cut, the river has dried up, etc.), your creation can be considered invalid as it contains inaccurate information. However, digital cartography supports the ability to edit maps so that they can be brought back to their former relevance. Moreover, this again brings significant labour savings.

Digital cartography is a real breakthrough in geographical science as it allows us to depict the world as it really is. The advantages of computer technology are not only the perfect quality of graphical work, but also high accuracy, a significant increase in labour productivity, and improved polygraphic quality of mapping products.