When is a map a map and not a chart?
Webster’s Dictionary defines a map as a ‘representation usually on a flat surface of the whole or part of an area.’ They define a chart as a ‘map for the use of navigators.’ Basically, maps portray the land regions of the world in all their vast shapes and forms. Charts portray the shorelines and the oceans of the world. They show water depths, shoals, rocks and other dangers, and they provide mariners crossing the oceans with the means of determining their positions by the use of Latitude & Longitude with a compass rose for direction. However, some early maps doubled as charts showing land areas, as well as the sea coast, giving both topographical and hydrographic information.