karttauksina

Karttauksina is a Finnish term used to describe information that is presented in cartographic form, i.e., as maps or map-like representations rather than in text. In scholarly Finnish, the word functions to indicate the modality or medium of the conveyed data.

Etymology and form: The base a word related to kartta (map) and karttaus (mapping) combines with the instrumental/transformative suffix -na/-nä to form karttauksena, meaning “as mapping,” and the plural form karttauksina, meaning “as mappings” or “in cartographic representations.” The construction is typical in Finnish for indicating a role or mode in which something is presented.

Usage: The term appears mainly in historical, geographical, archival, and ethnographic writing, where sources or findings are described as being presented karttauksina. It is used to emphasize that the information is depicted through maps, plans, or cartographic illustrations rather than narrative descriptions. Examples include land surveys, settlement layouts, boundary records, or thematic maps in which spatial relations are central to the argument.

Contexts: Karttauksina is particularly relevant when documenting how a source conveys spatial information, such as “asiakirjat ovat karttauksina” (the documents are presented as maps) or “tiedot esitettiin karttauksina” (the data were shown as cartographic representations). It can also appear in discussions of methodological approaches that rely on cartography to interpret historical landscapes or geographic phenomena.

See also: cartography, historical cartography, mapping, Finnish linguistic usage, source description in archaeology and geography.