They may reveal natural encounters as people represent the physical environment, cultural encounters as they show where two or more groups of people interact, political encounters as two or more nations come in contact, and technological encounters as a result of humankind s ingenuity in developing transportation systems, agricultural areas, and mining locations. Maps are most often drawn or printed on paper, but they may also be produced on any surface. They may be drawn in the sand or on leather hides. In some parts of the world, people make maps out of anything handy, for example, sticks or other objects. As long as they show a place, and can help people understand the relationship between spatial phenomena, they are really maps.
Some maps take even more unusual forms.
We commonly use them to communicate graphic information about places to others. Politicians use maps to show territories of their political constituents, and advertisers may use maps to direct us to their products and services. Cartographers make maps. You become a cartographer when you draw a map to help someone find your home. This happens when you translate your mental map into a graphic representation by taking pencil to paper and showing where things are in relationship to each other.