Mental Maps

MENTAL MAPS/MAPPING

Mental Maps, like all maps, are constructs of the human mind. It is ironic and interesting in itself that we can see images of mental mapping, but what makes mental maps separate from any other form of mapping is that they are presented in terms of an individual's imagination, and are never wrong or distorted in the respect that they are used in the mind of the beholder and in terms relative to and for that individual. 

Mental mapping (though contradictory in that we have physical examples images of these abstract mental constructs here) are in the mind of the creator, and stored for the familiarity and convenience of the individual.

Mental maps like the one below, can be of abstract ideas, such as the organization of time management...

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_01.htm

...or, they may simply be depictions of a physical location, but only constructed with relative importance to the individual in mind.

http://blog.mywonderfulworld.org/2010/05/create-a-mental-map-of-your-community.html