Hindu globe

Maps are a part of everyday life -- whether the difficult-to-fold paper variety or instant directions from Google Maps. We use them all the time and don't think too much about it.

Yet as a major map exhibit at Baltimore's Walters Art Museum demonstrates, there's a lot more to the humble map.

In fact, as technology has diminished the significance of geographic barriers, the world of mapping has grown exponentially more complex. More than 50 years ago the Walters hosted the last cartography exhibit of this magnitude. But this exhibit broadens the definition map considerably since the 1950s.

A map might be a conquistador's rendition of a lost city, an African sculpture that records memories and events, a souvenir from the first World's Fair or even perhaps a diagram of the Internet dating back to 1982. The Walters map show includes everything from Da Vinci works loaned by Queen Elizabeth II to an anonymous Hindu cosmological globe (pictured).

John Mitchell's Red Line Map of U.S.

From March 16 to June 8, a special ticketed exhibit Maps: Finding our Place in the World expands assumptions about maps.

In addition to the main exhibit, the Walters hosts a free show of Hubble Telescope images Feb. 2 - July 27. And it has organized a city-wide Festival of Maps, which includes maps made by community groups in Baltimore.