The presentation of spatial data, whether in print or on-screen, on maps or in tabular displays, or as “raw” data, is closely related to the discipline of cartography. The presentation may either be an end-product, for example a printed atlas, or an intermediate product, such as spatial data made available through the Internet. Table below lists several methods and devices used for the presentation of spatial data.
Cartography, information visualization and scientific visualization make use of these methods and devices in their products.
| Method | Devices | |
| Hardcopy | ∙ | printer |
| ∙ | plotter (pen plotter, ink-jet printer, thermal | |
| transfer printer, electrostatic plotter) | ||
| ∙ | film writer | |
| Soft copy | ∙ | computer screen |
| Output of digital | ∙ | magnetic tape |
| data sets | ∙ | CD-ROM or DVD |
| ∙ | the Internet |