mapping

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
map/map/

▶noun

• 1 a diagrammatic representation of an area of land or sea showing physical features, cities, roads, etc.

• 2 a diagram or collection of data showing the spatial arrangement or distribution of something over an area.

• 3 Biology a representation of the sequence of genes on a chromosome or of bases in a DNA or RNA molecule.

▶verb (maps, mapping, mapped)

• 1 represent or record on or in a map.

• 2 (map something out) plan a route or course of action in detail.

• 3 chiefly Mathematics associate each element of (a set) with an element of another set.

  ■ (map on to) be associated with or linked to.

– phrases
off the map (of a place) very distant or remote.
put something on the map bring something to prominence.
wipe something off the map obliterate something totally.

– derivatives
mapless adjective,
mappable adjective,
mapper noun,
mapping noun.

– origin C16: from med. L. mappa mundi, lit. ‘sheet of the world’, from L. mappa ‘sheet, napkin’.