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Originally Posted by whswhs
I'm not sure I understand this part. Why does it matter how you mark the map? Neither the characters nor the players get to see the map.
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In a sandbox campaign, it is usually far easier to provide the players with a map before asking them, "What do you want to do?" than it is to review all the options verbally. (This is not necessarily "the" map, however. There may be inaccuracies or omissions.)
In a science fiction campaign, it is usually difficult to justify denying some kind of cartographic system to the characters as well -- and may be impossible, depending on the transportation tech.
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I agree that that's less obvious for an interstellar voyage. But the question is, what kind of voyage is it? If it's merchants, the interesting thing will be a starport where there are people to buy from and sell to. If it's explorers, it will be a planet to be landed on and explored, or scanned, or a solar system with interplanetary traffic. Whatever it is, you need to think in terms of how the travelers go about finding out what's in a system.
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Here, I think you've confused the means and the ends.
Given the open-ended nature of a sandbox campaign, it is fairly likely the characters are Adventurers, not merchants, scouts, etc. Moving cargo is how they pay the bills; survey is how they get to the rumored Location of Fabulous Excitement.
From a player standpoint, pure exploration runs the risk of (as Anthony said) poking at a lot of things only to find they are boring. It is almost always preferable to provide enough information for the players (and characters) to determine what might be worth investigating. Maps are a very efficient way to accomplish this in a planet-based campaign. I'm looking for ways to improve these outcomes for planet-hopping campaigns.