A Map is Not a Picture: How the Digital World Threatens the Validity of Printed Maps
Patricia Seed University of California at Irvine

Most people take the accuracy of printed maps for granted. They assume, as I did until a few years ago, that maps in a printed book have been carefully vetted and reflect, or at least approximate, the original. However, it turns out that for the last three-quarters of a century, even famous map authorities have failed to verify the map images accompanying their texts. As digital scanning has become ever more precise, printed maps are increasingly shown to contain deeply misleading discrepancies. These differences have reached the point of discrediting arguments by leading writers in the field.