Instruments play an important role in Cosmographia itself. Throughout the book are descriptions of instruments and instructions for their use. The text is even equipped with working paper instruments. Paper volvelles provide the reader of Cosmographia the opportunity to test the skills described in the book. Not surprisingly, the instruments illustrated by Apianus in Cosmographia would have been available from Gemma's workshop. In this we can perhaps identify one of Gemma's motivations for publishing the text.
Information about all areas of cosmography is included in Cosmographia. Aside from mathematical instruments, perhaps the most prominent is cartography. Cartography was intimately tied to other cosmographical disciplines such as astronomy, navigation and especially instrument making during the 16th century. That Gerard Mercator was so famously successful in cartography often obscures the fact that he was primarily employed as an instrument maker in the workshop of Gemma Frisius. This connection between cartography and instrument making, and their mutual places in cosmography, is highlighted by Apianus and Gemma in Cosmographia.
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