Gene mapping involves three main steps: 1) dividing chromosomes into smaller fragments that can be characterized and propagated, 2) ordering the fragments to correspond to their locations on chromosomes, and 3) determining the base sequence of each fragment. Gene maps describe the order and spacing of genes or markers on each chromosome. There are two main types of maps - genetic linkage maps that show relative locations of DNA markers, and physical maps including low-resolution maps that assign genes to chromosomes and high-resolution maps that depict order and distances between enzyme cleavage sites. Maps are valuable for locating disease genes and enabling analysis of physical traits and disease mechanisms.