Map Tropes

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Maps and charts are ways of depicting the layout of an area onto a sheet of paper (or other surface) to help prevent people from getting lost.

They also manifest in fiction in a variety of ways and serve a variety of purposes:

Maps in general

Connect the Deaths
Put a pin in every disaster, and find who caused it all.
Fantasy World Map
No Fantasy setting is truly complete without this handy visual aid.

Fool's Map
A map that leads you on a Wild Goose Chase.
Here There Be Dragons
"Filler" as it applies to otherwise blank and/or unknown areas of maps.
Law of Cartographical Elegance
All relevant landmasses will conveniently fit into a rectangular containing area.
Left-Justified Fantasy Map
Why is the ocean always on the left?
Magic Map
A map that does more than just show roads and towns. People, objects, or supernatural things may also be shown.

Space-Filling Empire
Maps are drawn with a small number of superstates for easier political relations.
Spreading Disaster Map Graphic
Maps provide a vivid illustration of the scope of a looming or ongoing disaster.
Travel Montage
Travel between multiple locations, with maps used during the cuts to represent distances traveled.
Treasure Map
X marks the spot after you take fifty paces east of that palm tree between the rocks!

Alternate World Map
Video Games, especially RPG's, may utilize more than one World Map for assorted reasons.
Cartography Sidequest
The game draws and fills in level maps as you actually explore them.
Crow's Nest Cartography
Find a high point and use it to fill in a swath of the map.
Level-Map Display
Shows your position inside a Video Game level, and may update in real-time.
Overworld Not to Scale^note(or Traversible World Map)
An interactive "map" or small-scale view of the world that the player can freely travel upon between distinct areas.
Patchwork Map
Biomes may not match latitude and climate, but are simply placed here and there like provinces.