mappers

Mappers is a term used to describe people or systems involved in mapping, translating data from one representation to another, or applying geographic or thematic representations. The term is used across disciplines, from traditional mapmaking to computer science, genetics, and gaming hardware.

Mappers in cartography are cartographers, geographers, or GIS professionals who collect spatial data, design map products, and produce representations of landscapes, political boundaries, or thematic phenomena. Modern mappers rely on geographic information systems, satellite imagery, and field surveys to manage scales, projections, and symbology; accuracy and clarity are central concerns.

In software engineering, mapper refers to components that translate between data models. Object-relational mappers (ORMs) map objects in code to relational database tables, while data mappers convert between in-memory objects and persistent stores. Mappers appear in data integration and ETL workflows to align different schemas or ontologies.

In bioinformatics, read mappers align sequencing reads to reference genomes, producing alignments used in variant calling and expression analysis. Examples include BWA, Bowtie, and STAR; results are often stored in SAM/BAM formats.

In video game hardware, mappers—or memory management controllers—control how cartridge ROM and RAM are addressed. They enable bank switching and additional features. Notable mappers appeared on the Nintendo Entertainment System and other consoles, enabling larger games than the base hardware could address.