Chart or Map?
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2003
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From: SX in SX in UK
Chart or Map?
Whats the difference?
I've always thought that a map is a pictorial representation of the ground as viewed from above, but a chart is diagram of a variable versus a constant ie, how your savings go down with time
But the legend on the top of my map..chart..map states 'Aeronautical Chart'
I've always thought that a map is a pictorial representation of the ground as viewed from above, but a chart is diagram of a variable versus a constant ie, how your savings go down with time

But the legend on the top of my map..chart..map states 'Aeronautical Chart'

Joined: May 1999
Aviation Qualifications: ATP+Mil
Posts: 27,401
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From: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Chart - primarily data. E.g Danger areas, airways, lat/long, ATZs frequencies.....
Map - primarily topographic and cultural information. E.g towns, hills, woods, roads, railways, frontiers
....and 'Here be dragons' on some of them!
Map - primarily topographic and cultural information. E.g towns, hills, woods, roads, railways, frontiers
....and 'Here be dragons' on some of them!
Joined: May 2003
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From: Essex!
A map is a representation of the earth's surface and its features. However a chart is also a map but it also depicts certain information also, i.e airspace or sea lanes etc! Hence what pilots use are called charts not maps!
High Flying Bird
Joined: Dec 2000
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From: Old Sarum ish
As BEagle says, a map is a representation of a surface, whereas a chart shows more data which might be useful for navigation.
And then there's mapping in the genetic sense and chart in the musical sense....
SW
And then there's mapping in the genetic sense and chart in the musical sense....
SW
Joined: Jan 2002
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From: Paros, Greece
I was going to say the same as magneticflip1, but then I realised that, as well as topographical features, the MAP I use when out walking/hiking also depicts such things as private land open by permission of the landowner (controlled airspace), footpaths across open moorland (VFR advisory routes), county, constituency and parish boundaries (FIR's and ASR's), trig points (NDB's) and even the odd airfield! So it's a CHART then!
Joined: Jul 2001
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From: South Yorkshire
Yup, I understood that a map only showed things that actually existed on the ground, whereas a chart shows things that cannot be seen (controlled airspace, property ownership, rights of way, hidden reefs etc.). So an OS Map is actually a chart.
Official PPRuNe Chaplain
Joined: Apr 2001
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From: Witnesham, Suffolk
My diddy Oxford dictionary goes into lots of chat, but basically implies (in this context) that a chart is maritime, and a map land-based. Which is what I always thought.
I suspect we call aviation ones "charts" because the first navigators were men of the sea.
But I'll follow the Humpty-Dumpty principle that a word means what I want it to. Very postmodern, I know.
I suspect we call aviation ones "charts" because the first navigators were men of the sea.
But I'll follow the Humpty-Dumpty principle that a word means what I want it to. Very postmodern, I know.
Joined: Dec 2001
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From: SE England
Aerbabe...
So if I keep calling mine a chart, can I open it up and expect to find Danni Minogue in it? I do hope so...
DBChopper
And then there's mapping in the genetic sense and chart in the musical sense....
DBChopper
Why do it if it's not fun?

Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 4,782
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From: Bournemouth
AerBabe, I think DBChopper is referring to the visual equivalent of music...
(Isn't Danni Minogue starting her new job as a Capital Radio DJ very soon? Seems a pity to shove her in a studio away from the cameras...)
FFF
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(Isn't Danni Minogue starting her new job as a Capital Radio DJ very soon? Seems a pity to shove her in a studio away from the cameras...)
FFF
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