Aesthetic Aspects of Early Maps - Advances in Cartography and GIScience - page 61

with various shapes of map fields , structure of map networks (coordinates,
street network, etc.). Edgerton also notices specific map shapes - e.g. early
Christian T-O maps or circle altar maps, like e.g. The Ebstorf map, etc.
(Edgerton in Woodward 1987) - Figure 5 .
Figure 5 : Beat's oval world map [1030].
The fact that the format and shape of the map, sheet composition and use
of surface (space) place among essential aspects of aesthetic assessment is
certainly related to the fact that the sense of graphical design is reflected in
them much more than cartographical knowledge and skills. It is early maps
that thanks to their origin (often created by a versatile creator) serve as an
example of excellent command of the format, composition and filling of
surface (compared to today's maps either overfilled or with too much
empty space).
3.2 Realization of compositional elements
Realization of components and compositional elements as such in (early)
maps can be subject to aesthetic assessment. The study of aesthetic aspects
in the above mentioned thesis The Aesthetics of Cartographic Production
can build on this principle; the thesis offers many examples (Bláha 2003).