Geo-data visualisation necessarily includes cartography as the origin of "mapping" our world. Cartography methods have drastically changed over the few years since the increasing role and sophistication of digital technology applied to geo-information visualisation. It is first worth differentiating between the underlying geo-data that describes real world phenomena and the bits of information that describe the visual presentation of geo-data . Likewise, there are processing tools to collect and handle geo-data, and processing tools especially designed to create and manage geo-data visualisations.
While cartography methods have traditionally produced printed maps (i.e. hard copy) with static scale, orientation, projection, legends (content based) and tied to a period or instant of time. Nowadays geo-data visualisations are interactive by design, meaning that the results are map-based responsive interfaces, highly customisable through dynamic objects to zoom in and out, pan and tilt, change projections and graphic expressions on the fly, as well as dynamically browse the map over time.
If the production methods have changed, also the type of authors. Map making in its widest sense is not only a privilege of a few experts but has been democratised in such a way that. everybody is able to make maps using open data and open source apps and tools for geo-data visualisation. Therefore,the new roles of open data and new forms of geo-data like geo-social media make usability, intended and ethical considerations key aspects of geo-data visualization design, production and sharing.
Under the concept of cartography and visualisation it is included a list of concepts that together comprise the science and technology of visual representation of geographic data.