Art or Cartogrpahy - What is a map?

[Diamond]

Going one step further on the "art" or "map" topic is my pet peeve: the picture of a map. Too many times I see what would be a nice map, but the artist has chosen to add things like tattered edges, faux stains, and paper grain in an attempt to make the map look like a picture of a map. Without a context in which to communicate the reason that it's a picture of a map rather than a map "this map was passed down through generations, with the important travel paths shown as the stains of countless fingers tracing their journeys", then most of the decoration is likely superfluous.

Personally, I can't agree with that. Having all the relevant information to make the map function in the manner in which it was intended is necessary, of course. But it also needs life, and character, and mystery, and romance, or it's just a bunch of boring lines and blobs. I don't understand why anyone would have a problem with that. Injecting life into something doesn't necessarily detract from its primary goal. Of course if the decoration becomes the primary focus, to the point where it obscures the map's functionality, then...