Maps are graphic representations of part or the whole of Earth in cartographic, electronic, two or three dimensional formats.

In the past maps have been made primarily to serve precise tasks like describing discoveries, navigating space, defining boundaries, registering ownership and locating resources.

Changes have occurred over the last two decades since Spatial Information Technologies (SIT) have become accessible to civil society and graphic representations of space have been used as channels for two-way communication purposes to support social learning, dialogue and negotiation processes.

Maps communicate via their interpretation keys through a universal language made out of a combination of symbols (points, lines, polygons and volumes ) and their visual variables (hue, orientation, shading value, shape, size, and texture).

Elevated terrain models (3D maps or 3D models) communicate more effectively by displaying the vertical dimension which provides additional cues to memory and facilitates mental spatial knowledge processing. To a lesser extent maps communicate via the topology, the names of things.

Contours are lines drawn on a map to represent points of equal elevation on the surface of the land above or below a reference surface such as mean sea level. On conventional maps they are usually printed in brown, in two thickness. The thicker lines are called index contours, and they are usually marked with numbers, giving height in meters. The contour interval, a set difference in elevation between the brown lines, varies from map to map; its value is given in the margin of each map. The closer the contour lines the steeper the slope. Contours make it possible to measure the height of mountains, depths of the ocean and steepness of slopes.