Cartographic presentation – from simple to complex map

Nowadays a lot of people are trying to make maps, and especially digital maps. A wide range of computer tools and high graphic capabilities have together made maps increasingly popular and seemingly easy to prepare for any person who can use a computer. It seems necessary to verify the bases of the cartographic presentation methods. There is a need for a new, formalized view of the method as a sequence of steps from data collection, to correct presentation, to map. Two terms related to cartographic presentation should be distinguished in this article: “methods” and “forms.” A method is understood as the process by which data is transformed into a presentation. A form is understood as the end result of this process, i.e. the resulting graphical image or map. In the article five types of cartographic presentation are indicated. In the successive types, one can observe an increasing degree of complexity of cartographic presentation.