Talk:Map/GA1

GA review

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Nominator: Noleander (talk · contribs) 17:41, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

Reviewer: Pamzeis (talk · contribs) 16:51, 28 July 2026 (UTC)

Hi, I'm taking in part in this review as part of WT:GARC#108. I've never reviewed a geography topic before, nor an article this broad, so please alert me if I screw anything up! Pamzeis (talk) 16:51, 28 July 2026 (UTC)

Lead

• Is there a reason governments, military and security organizations are in a separate paragraph to the other purposes?

A minor reason: sources treat government mapping separately from commercial mapping (the vast majority of maps are made by official govmt agencies). But mostly I split the paragraph to break up a large paragraph into 2 smaller ones. Noleander (talk) 20:32, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

• There are three sentences in a row that begin with "X use maps", which feels a bit list-y and monotonous. Can they be reworded?

Done. Changed the middle sentence of the 3 to start with "Maps are used by governments for ..." Noleander (talk) 20:32, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

• The lead mentions In the 5th century BCE, Greeks were drawing maps of their known world, encompassing the Mediterranean Sea and most of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. but the body only mentions on Greek drawing one map during that time

Done. Added the following footnote to the body text: "An earlier Greek cartographer was Anaximander (c. 610 – c. 546 BCE) who may have been the first to create a map of the world, and also created a globe." There were others as well. I have not added anything to the lead because, well, it's the lead. But if you think I should, let me know. Noleander (talk) 20:32, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

Definition and etymology

• or from French mappemonde or Latin mappa mundi (both 'map of the world'). — the double "or" makes it confusing for me, even if the comma sorta clarifies—can it be restructured?

Done. Changed to "It originated from the Late Latin word mappa ('napkin, cloth') originating in Classical Latin. Alternatively, it may have originated from French mappemonde or Latin mappa mundi (both 'map of the world')." Noleander (talk) 20:39, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

• as in the 1938 definition by Erwin Raisz (in the first major book on cartography in the English language[b]) "a conventionalized picture and as in the brief 1976 definition by Arthur H. Robinson "a graphic representation of the milieu". — is there a word or punctuation missing in here?

Can you be more specific? Is the issue with the phrase "... as in the ..."? That reads okay to me, but I can change that to something else in both those sentences. If it is a different issue, please specify. Noleander (talk) 20:43, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

• Oops, I think I misread the sentence. Never mind. Pamzeis (talk) 06:23, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

History

• No one knows when or where humans created the first maps — seems a bit journalistic to me—perhaps "It is unknown when or..." would be better?

Done. Noleander (talk) 20:48, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

• so fundamental to human nature, it is likely that maps were produced very early in human history — contains a comma splice

Done. Changed to "The desire to preserve and share geographic data is so fundamental to human nature it is likely that maps were produced very early in human history." I removed the comma. I could not convert the comma to a period because the word "so" in the first half means the first half not a stand-alone sentence. Noleander (talk) 20:48, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

• An early Chinese map that is still preserved from about the 4th century BCE, which shows more sophistication than contemporary maps originating in Europe. — is not a full sentence; also, could it be expanded slightly to tell the reader what the map depicts?

Done. Expanded to "Early Chinese maps that are still preserved include one from the 4th century BCE engraved on a large bronze sheet, showing the location of five mausoleums,[8] and a set of silk maps from the 2nd century BCE, which show more sophistication than contemporary maps originating in Europe." Noleander (talk) 22:41, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

• as Christianity dominated much of medieval society – many of them incorporated religious themes — is it possible to include a short example here? As someone who's seen very few paper maps, I'm having a hard time understanding how a religious theme would be incorporated

Done. Added footnote stating "An aspect of the religious emphasis was that Jersualem was placed at the center of many of these maps." From looking at the maps, there was also a lot of religious symbology drawn in the margins, but I don't see that highlighted by the sources. Noleander (talk) 22:53, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

• Scholars refer to some of these maps — does "some of these maps" refer to all of the types of maps mentioned in this paragraph or just maps of the world?

Done. Changed to "Scholars refer to some of the mappa mundi as T-O maps because they depicted the ..." Noleander (talk) 22:57, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

• who created the Mercator projection in 1569 which proved valuable to navigators — can it be explained how so?

Done. Changed to "... proved valuable to navigators because they could draw a straight line on the map pointing to their destination, and follow the indicated compass direction." That simple method of finding a compass direction to follow was not possible in other projections. Noleander (talk) 23:01, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

• innovative schematic design that was more useful than a geographically accurate layout — more useful to everyone? Or to a specific demographic/groups of people? Also, I feel as though the claim it's more useful would be a subjective opinion rather than a fact

Done. Changed to "... an innovative schematic design that was more useful for passengers than a geographically accurate layout." Regarding the statement "more useful" .. that is clearly stated (in roughly the same wording) as a fact by many sources, so it is probably best to leave it as is. Noleander (talk) 23:05, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

• A couple times in this section, there are a few statements that have a bit of a laudatory tone towards maps or don't feel completely neutral, e.g.:
  • the desire to preserve and share geographic data is so fundamental to human nature
  • Humanity's impulse to create maps was illustrated when Europeans encountered indigenous peoples in Central and South America and in Oceania
• I know that maps are a crucial part of human life, but can such statements potentially be reworded to sound more neutral?

Done. Changed 1st to "The fact that maps are found in the historical records of so many ancient cultures suggests that maps were initially produced early in human prehistory." Changed 2nd to "When Europeans encountered indigenous peoples in Central and South America and in Oceania, they found maps ...." Noleander (talk) 00:58, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

Applications

• Perhaps the most common applications of maps in everyday life relate to navigation and route planning. Maps are useful for finding nearby restaurants, hospitals, gas stations, hotels, parks, and other points of interest. — "perhaps" is editorialising—perhaps (pun unintended) this statement could be attributed?

Done. Could not find a source for "most common", so changed it to "Common applications of maps in everyday life are navigation and route planning: maps are useful for finding nearby restaurants". Noleander (talk) 01:02, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• including monitoring forests and wildlife habitats; monitoring climate change, floods, wildfires, and pollution. — the list after "including" lacks parallel structure—is there a reason it isn't a single parallel list?

Done. Changed to "Environmental protection and management is an area where maps are used to monitor forests, wildlife habitats, climate change, floods, wildfires, and pollution." Noleander (talk) 01:07, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• This section can feel a bit list-y at points. Initially, things are grouped together in a logical way, but it eventually turns a bit into X uses maps for Y and the groupings feel a bit random—for example, I don't understand why the bit about government using maps for policy decisions is not a part of the previous paragraphs, which discusses government-related applications

Done. Put all government applications into a single paragraph. Made a few minor copy edits so it reads more fluently. Noleander (talk) 13:43, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

Design

• Occasionally, I feel as though this section reads a bit like a WP:HOWTO guide, particularly the occurrences of "should" and the absolute phrasing at points. At times, the article seems as though it's implicitly informing someone designing a map, not neutrally describing how maps are designed; some examples:
  • A map's design should visually distinguish key elements in a map from less important elements
  • even a small amount of color can significantly improve the readability of map
  • Positioning textual labels in a manner that is helpful and attractive is a difficult, but important process

Done. Changed section text to be more more encyclopedic & neutral - including the three items above. Attributed two of them as "Cartographer XYZ suggests that a maps design should ...". Noleander (talk) 14:01, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• This section also reads a bit choppy at times because of the short paragraphs

Done. Merged five short paragraphs into most appropriate neighboring paragraph. Noleander (talk) 14:01, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• For example, assuming one can resolve locations within half a millimeter on a paper map, that determines the map's resolution. — the structuring is a kinda clunky

Done. Changed to "Some cartographers define the resolution of a paper map as the distance represented by half a millimeter on the map. For example, a 1:10,000 scale map has a resolution of 5 m; and a 1:1,000,000 scale map has a resolution of 500 m." Noleander (talk) 14:09, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• The projection has been criticized for its large distortions in the higher latitudes, as well as for inaccuracies in coordinates when zoomed-in — by whom?

Done. Changed to "The projection has been criticized by the European Petroleum Survey Group and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for its large distortions in the higher latitudes, as well as for inaccuracies in coordinates when zoomed-in." Noleander (talk) 14:18, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• A lot of the examples in this section comes from European or North American countries—is this simply a reflection of how sources cover the design of maps?

I agree that Euro-centrism or US-centrism is a concern. I made a special effort to include examples (both in body text and images) from around the globe. The major secondary sources in cartography write in English, and tend to be from US and Europe, apparently due to the tradition of having active Cartography/Geography departments in universities. There are a large number of primary-source journal articles written by authors that appear to reside outside the US or Europe, and I would surmise that they contain many examples from outside the US/Europe; unfortunately - most of those sources tend to be hyper-technical (that is, too detailed for this article). Also, many are written in a language other than English, so I'm unable to read them. That said, I've made a determined effort to make the article representative of many regions of the world, and I think the maps displayed are very widely distributed. The body text examples are perhaps not as spread out, but I can continue to work on that as I go towards FAC. Noleander (talk) 14:27, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

Types

• A few subsections, like #Topological and #Topographic and planimetric, appear pretty choppy because of the short paragraphs. Can they be merged?

Done. Merged 3 smaller paragraphs. Noleander (talk) 14:33, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• At the end of #Topological, geographic accuracy is sacrificed to improve comprehension seems to simply repeat their graphical depictions promote comprehension by sacrificing geographic accuracy that is said before. Pamzeis (talk) 11:18, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

Done. Removed the 2nd instance of the repetition. Noleander (talk) 14:40, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

Cartographic data

• Such orthorectified images are suitable for use in a map, and will properly align with other geographic elements in the map. — can this be reworded so "in a/the map" isn't repeated?

Done. Changed to "Such orthorectified images will align with other geographic elements in the map." Noleander (talk) 14:43, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• When preparing a map, it may be difficult to locate relevant data within a database, especially if the database contains vast amounts of information. Databases can help with that process if they contain indexes which support efficient retrieval, searching, and sorting. — leans a bit too how-to-esque rather than encyclopaedic for my taste

Done. Changed to "During the map design process, cartographers must locate relevant data within a database. Databases support that need with indexes, which provide retrieval, searching, and sorting functions." Noleander (talk) 14:47, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• Vector data stored without topological relationships is sometimes disparagingly referred to as "spaghetti data". — is this bit necessary? It seems trivial to me

Done. Demoted that into an efn footnote. At least two major source mention it, so it is not entirely trivial. Noleander (talk) 14:50, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• Is explaining precision and detectable size in #Terminology needed? They don't seem all that relevant in #Accuracy, aside from Geographer Paul Longley suggested a rule of thumb that horizontal positional errors are roughly equal to a map's precision., where I feel it could just be a footnote

Partially done. Demoted "Geographer Paul Longley suggested a rule of thumb .." from body text into footnote. Regarding the terms discussed in the section: there are three concepts: Accuracy, Precision (aka Resolution); and Detectable Size (or Detectable Width). They are very important terms that are defined (and contrasted with each other) by multiple major sources. I don't think the article can eliminate any of the information about them. Noleander (talk) 14:56, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• Cartographic data used for critical applications should include error estimates for all important data — the "should" makes it feel a bit how-to-esque to me

Done. Deleted the entire sentence. The source's wording was a bit vague anyway. Noleander (talk) 15:01, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• The accuracy of crowd-sourced data may be poor — seems to state an opinion as a fact

Done. Changed to "Cartographers that use crowd-sourced data may need to assess the accuracy of the data to ensure it meets quality requirements." Noleander (talk) 15:12, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

Publication and distribution

• This section feels a bit choppy due to the short paragraphs—can they be merged?

Done. Noleander (talk) 16:55, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

Profession and regulation

Good

Society and culture

• In 1985, politician Shridath Ramphal appealed to geographers to combat bias implicit in maps, particularly related to the north up orientation and the implication that northern countries are superior. — is there any through line to this? Any notable impact, etc.?

Done. Expanded this material; it now reads "Another source of potential euro-centric bias is the north-up orientation used by most maps. Indian politician Shridath Ramphal appealed to geographers to combat all bias implicit in maps, particularly related to the north up orientation and the implication that northern countries are superior. Australian Stuart McArthur created a south-up world map in 1979 which placed Australia in a position of prominence. The map was titled "McArthur's Universal Corrective Map of the World". " Noleander (talk) 17:36, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• An example of misinformation that is deliberately inserted into a map is a copyright trap, which is a fictional object or place inserted into a map (in an unobtrusive manner) by the mapmaker, that will help them detect unauthorized copies. — seems to fit with the first paragraph, rather than being by its lonesome at the end after discussing biases and projections

Done. Noleander (talk) 17:38, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

Sourcing

Version

• footnotes o, s, u, z, aa, ae, af, am, ao, ap, aq, aw and bb are unsourced

Done. I added cites to a couple; and removed the remaining footnotes that did not have cites. Except: I left these two without cites:

• "Topological relationships between data in a cartographic database should not be confused with topological maps.
• Precision is sometimes called resolution.

Noleander (talk) 19:42, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• Spotchecks:
  • 1: Doesn't seem to support that The word "map" first appeared in English around 1120 CE.—says: The earliest known use of the noun map is in the early 1500s. OED's earliest evidence for map is from before 1527, in the writing of R. Thorne.

Done. Thanks for catching that. Changed date to 1527. The erroneous 1120 date was also from the OED, in the etymology section: ".. from c. 1120 in British sources ..." but that was referring to use of the Latin word "mappa" found in British documents. Noleander (talk) 20:01, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• • 15: Y
  • 86: Y
  • 169: seems to be just an image of the map; explains The map's top is to the northeast. but not Although most modern government-produced maps are north up, some maps intended for recreational or tourism use may employ an unusual orientation if the region being depicted is an unusual shape.

Done. Changed body text to "An example of a modern map with an unusual orientation is this tourism-oriented map of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is a 755 km (469 mi) long road that runs diagonally from southwest to northeast. The map's top is to the northeast." Noleander (talk) 14:03, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• • 186: Y
  • 237: Y
  • 297: Y
  • 300: Y
• Several image captions have "citation needed" tags

Done. Supplied cites for the three images that had "cite needed" tags. Noleander (talk) 20:18, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• The GeoNames web app lets users interactively view and manipulate maps. and Nautical charts – such as this one of the seas around Culebra – are essential tools for mariners. in the captions are also unsourced

Done. Noleander (talk) 20:41, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

Images

All good.

I think that's it from me! Placing On hold now. Pamzeis (talk) 06:20, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

@Pamzeis - Thanks for the excellent review ... the article is better for it. I believe I have addressed all the issues you mentioned above, except for a couple that I explained in the reply. If you think more work needs to be done, let me know. Thanks again! Noleander (talk) 20:43, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

Good Article review progress box

Criteria: 1a. prose () 1b. MoS () 2a. ref layout () 2b. cites WP:RS () 2c. no WP:OR () 2d. no WP:CV () 3a. broadness () 3b. focus () 4. neutral () 5. stable () 6a. free or tagged images () 6b. pics relevant () Note: this represents where the article stands relative to the Good Article criteria. Criteria marked are unassessed