The term cartography means the art science and technology of making maps.

This definition
shows that cartography covers many disciplines and involves people with a range of skills A
Cartographer need a knowledge of cartography itself and other related fields like computer
science, surveying, remote sensing and GIS just to mention a few. The knowledge of various
skills depends on what type of a cartographer you are. For instance, the knowledge and skills
needed in a cartographic editor are different from those required in a cartographic technician and
different again from the knowledge and skills in cartographic teachers. Apart from the
knowledge and related fields, a good cartographer also has to possess some personal qualities for
them to become successful in cartography as a career. These personal qualities include; natural
curiosity, critical thinking, flexibility, good communication skills and a good back ground
knowledge. The paragraphs below explain each point in details.

First and foremost, cartographic professionals should be curious. This is where the cartographers
are eager to know new things by asking questions. The curiosity in cartographers has to be
natural and not leant. Curiosity pushes successful cartographer professionals to look at the world
around them. This helps to create new questions as well as the tenacity to seek the answers.
Tenacity is required in cartography since cartography involves GIS. Tenacity helps cartographers
to solve problems using GIS (Kerski, 2011). It also enhances hard work in cartographers and
enables them to work out problems until solved and also to encounter with the problems if they
happen again. This is possible because cartographers can now apply the new skills which they
have gotten from the questions that they were asking. Cartographers with natural curiosity
frames geographical questions. These questions are about connections between people and
environment and how each shapes the other (Alyson, 2015). Asking the right questions is the
first cartographic inquiry process and this leads to successful work especially when working with
GIS.

The other quality of a cartographer is the ability to think critically. Amerish (2015), defines
critical thinking as the ability to think clearly or rationally. She goes further explaining that
someone with critical thinking skills will be able to understand logical connections between
ideas. According Kersk (2011), a cartographer possesses critical thinking skills as reasoning,
evaluation, problem solving, and decision making. These skills help cartographers to analyze and
draw conclusions from collected data. They also help cartographers to see connections on how
the natural environment affects human behavior and social institutions, for example (Alyson,
2017). Critical thinking is also needed in cartography because it helps cartographers to know
where to find information. Cartographers with critical thinking know effective ways of gathering,
analyzing and displaying geographical data through GIS (Kerski, 2011).

Flexibility and adaptability is another personal quality of a cartographer. Adapting in the field of
cartography is very important. This involves being open to change (positive or negative) and to
considerable variety in the work place. In cartography, technology has continually changed in
order to meet the demands of new map makers and users. The first maps were manually
constructed with brushes and parchment. They varied in quality and were distributed in limit
since many copies of maps had to be produced by hands and not printers as with the modern
world. Now there are devices such as compass and later magnetic storage devices. These helps in
the production of more accurate maps and also to store copies of maps rather than keeping them
as papers. Advances in mechanical devices such as the printing press helps to make maps more
widely available. Advances in photochemics technologies have allowed for the creation of
maps that have fine details. This also eliminated the need for engraving which further shortened
the time it takes to make and produce maps. As a good cartographer you need to be adaptable
and flexible. There is a need to be willing to change and accept and accept embrace above
stated changes as an essential and necessary part of working in cartography. (Kerski, 2011).

Last but one is communication skills. Cartographers work with various people. Therefore, she or
he should be able to communicate with other people both in writing and through person forms.
Cartographers also need to know how to effectively employ cartographic elements like colour
symbols patterns and others because maps are powerful communication tools. Cartographers
must also know how to communicate the results of their analysis in oral or written form and by
any other means. This means they should write and speak clearly and accurately. (Alyson J 201).
Good communication also enables collaboration in the world of cartographers. This is because
Cartographers work on with Co-workers and community members, cartographers accomplish
their tasks faster and more efficiently (Sahu, 2015).

Lastly knowledge of various backgrounds. The needed background is the combination of

various knowledge and skills. As a cartographer one needs a knowledge of computer skills,
mathematics skills and GIS. computer system skills are very important to a life of a
cartographer. This is like that because cartographers use a number of software programs for
photo imaging map creation, spread sheeting and word processing. They need to know how to
get computerized database such as census reports and satellites-imagery sets. A cartographer
must also have a background knowledge of geography. One of the requirement of cartography
as a job is a masters degree in geography.

To wind up, we can see that a cartographer needs to possess in order to make his or her work
effective. Cartographers need to be curious, need to be critical thinkers, need to flexible and
adaptable, need to have good communication skills and lastly need to have various background
knowledge.