Rock and stone drawings that ancient man made, were the beginning of the discipline of cartography. At first cartography developed gradually over the centuries. Influenced by scientific and technological developments, it grew rapidly from the eras of explorations and scientific inventions to reach a high level of perfection in the 20th century. Practice and research have continued to improve the products (maps) from the discipline. It became an autonomous mapping discipline by its own right. In the same way a written language is governed by certain rules, so too cartography is guided by cartographic rules (grammar), which are intended to achieve effective graphic communication. So whoever wanted maps he/she consulted experts, namely cartographers, who were versed with such rules and principles, much in the same way a sick person consults a physician. The development of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology has relegated the autonomy that cartography had enjoyed for a number of centuries hitherto...
