Mapping is a Labour of Love for This Italian Cartographer

Massimo Cingotti lives in Milan but was born in the Salerno province in Southern Italy. He has been making maps since completing a postgraduate degree in Geographic Information Systems from the Tor Vergata University in Rome, in 2014.

Cingotti works for Geo4Map, for one of the largest cartographic companies in Italy. Geo4Map produces cartographic products such as paper maps, atlases, wall posters and many other products for tourism, recreation and education, distributing them via their website Libreria Geografica. Georeferenced digital hiking maps of Northern Italy are also sold in the Avenza Map Store.

Within the Geo4Map organization Cingotti oversees the production of hiking maps which he finds to be a complex and challenging process. Each step involves a different team starting with obtaining open source geographic data, which must then be verified, edited and normalized. After transforming the data into geographic formats, design elements are added. Field checking for quality control, and output processing round out the tasks that go into map production.

Geo4Maps regularly updates digital maps in the Map Store to ensure that their the latest information is available to map users. Last year Geo4Map began a collaboration with National Geographic to create a new series of maps dedicated Italian and European long trails. Cingotti feels that this has contributed even further to the quality of their maps.

Every cartographer takes pride in the elements that make their maps special. Cingotti cites accuracy, precision, readability, reliability as being key. 'And of course beauty.' he adds. 'I love to show off the beauty of the Italian landscape. I can do this in person thanks to completing a specialized course to become a nature guide. However, I believe I can also do so on a larger scale through our maps.'

Find hiking maps by Massimo Cingotti and the Geo4Maps Team in the Avenza Map Store, and all Geo4Map products on Amazon and Libreria Geografica.