Recently, a new class of quantum codes based on hypermaps has been proposed. These codes are obtained from embeddings of hypergraphs as opposed to surface codes which are obtained from the embeddings of graphs. It is natural to compare these two classes of codes and their relation to each other. In this context two related questions are addressed in this paper: Can the parameters of hypermap-homology codes be superior to those of surface codes, and what is precisely the relation between these two classes of quantum codes? We show that a canonical hypermap code is identical to a surface code, whereas a noncanonical hypermap code can be transformed to a surface code by cnot gates alone. Our approach is constructive; we construct the related surface code and the transformation involving cnot gates. © 2014 American Physical Society.