City

A city is a designated human settlement of importance. A city usually has a large population but can be designated as such through a different measure of importance . Cities are a primary aspect of cartography, especially maps designed for navigation like Orienteering maps.

Greater city of London

Selection

Due to limited space cities must be selected using some parameters. The primary goal of a cartographer is to provide the most information suitable for their audience.

Population

Cities are often displayed if they exceed a certain threshold. This threshold may not be the present day population but instead the population during the time period the map is intended to depict.

Baltimore depicted instead of Philadelphia despite Philadelphia's larger size during this period

Proximity

Maps may have to exclude population centers for readability. MapBox is an example of a map that uses multiple measures to dynamically choose the most relevant cities to display. They ensure that labels, regardless of their source, do not overlap . In practice this leads to a selection of cities that does not necessarily display ones with the largest populations.

Utrecht excluded due to proximity to Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Randstad

Historic Importance

Sometimes cities may be chosen for their historic importance.

St. Augustine depicted as it is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Florida

Color

Color plays an important part in setting cities apart from other places of interest. There is also a need to depict cities separately from their metropolitan areas. Red has become a standard for centers of commerical activity, and as such is common when depicting population centers .

Border

The choice of border is chosen depending on need. Two examples of borders often used are city and metropolitan borders. The cartographer may also choose not to depict the city center itself, especially if the city is polycentric or has multiple dominant neighborhoods.

City center not depicted, with an emphasis on metropolitan area