A map is a picture or representation of the Earth's surface, showing how things are related to each other by distance, direction, and size. Maps are a way of showing many things about a portion of the earth's surface on a flat piece of paper that can be carried and transported easily. A map is not a photograph of the Earth's surface. It can show many things that a picture cannot show, and as a result, a map looks different in many ways from a photograph of the Earth's surface.

Maps have been used for centuries. A person who creates map as a profession is called a cartographer.