At the time, the need arose to have as much geographic and cartographic information as possible, but this information was not required in a dispersed way, it was necessary that it be gathered in a single place, a matter of going to consult it in order to obtain the required data in a given time and place, it is there when the Mapoteca are born.
A map library is the place for storing all kinds of maps and its main objective is to provide the necessary information to its users, they work the same as a library or newspaper library, where you can go to consult books and newspapers in order to investigate, observe and work with they.
There are two types of map libraries, the physical map libraries where there is a site or space destined with a tangible structure where a large number of maps or cartograms printed on paper are kept and as with a book in a library, here the maps are arranged by sections to facilitate your search, and there are virtual map libraries, which store digital information about maps on a website, these are digital maps so they can be searched online, their greatest advantage is that they are always constantly updated, so the data obtained from this search will be fresh or recent for each investigation.
Depending on the institution in which it is concerned, the size and diversity of maps may vary, there are two types of physical map libraries, one where there is only information about maps (in all its structure) and the other where there is a section within of a library destined for a map library, in this sense the data stored there will be less in quantity, although it will always depend on the type of organization that is used.
El tipo de información allí almacenada hace referencia no sólo a los mapas a nivel de terreno, sino que también se podrá encontrar datos acerca de tipos de suelo, clima, vegetación, ciudades y poblados, autopistas, túneles, caminos y carreteras, índices socioeconómicos y muchas más. Además en muchas mapotecas hay datos interesantes como mapas únicos, que no pueden ser encontrados en otros lugares por no poseer réplica, y también mapas antiguos considerados parte de la historia.
