Cartographer is an Ace addon that has many various features about it that makes the map much more user-friendly than the default map. (Ace addons use less memory, and are easier to keep updated than other addons.) For starters, go to www.wowace.com and download the WoWAce Auto Updater. Once you run it, look for all the Cartographer addons you can plug in. It has many features like allowing you to download and plot all the herb/ore spawn points, allowing you to plot points on the map and have an arrow point you the way to it, etc.

Of special note is the Route plugin to Cartographer. You can use that to plot the shortest route around all the spawn points. See the Professions category for details.

UPDATE! – Cartographer Routes no longer exists, but there is an addon called Routes.  See this post: Routes Addon Tutorial.  It has a video that explains where to get it and how to use it.