For instance, like the Koryak dancing coat with its summer and winter star maps, traditional cartography has a strong connection with shamanism and mystical knowledge. Another important difference, said Woodward, is that indigenous maps frequently measure distance in time rather than space. Thus, travel is charted as the number of days it takes to arrive at a destination rather than in miles or kilometers. Like early Western maps, indigenous cartography has a tendency to place the well known prominently in the center, relegating the unfamiliar to the margins. But there are some indigenous maps, noted Woodward, that have virtually nothing in common with Western concepts.
Intriguing examples are the stick maps used only by the people of the Pacific Marshall Islands.
Made from coconut fronds lashed to an open frame, and using shells to denote islands, the maps were never carried on the great ocean-going canoes. Instead, they were simply consulted before a voyage or used to teach the principles of swell patterns, a navigational technique that can predict the presence of an island by noting changes in the regular ocean swells.