Mapping as Language or Semiotic System: Review and Comment

Abstract

[No abstract, taken from introduction] Mapping is the act of conceiving spatial relationships in the milieu [based on Robinson and Petchenik]. Much attention is also given to process, to the understanding of the manner in which things of the milieu....evolve and interact. Mapping...seems to almost always be the core of creating geographical information form mere spatial data. Mapping involves the use of the map, but it is helpful to think of the map as functioning in at least three basic ways. First, it may act as a form of storage for data about the milieu. Second, it may act as a surrogate for the milieu during study--during mapping. Thirdly, it may act as a medium of transmission of spatial concepts.....At this meeting we all recognize that language is relevant to geographic space. Some of us, it seems, are interested in how most efficiently to encode spatial data and relationships within an electronic database; others in how best to correlate our variety of natural human languages to consistently query the database. This paper presents, in part, the concerns of those who see the map as a medium in a system of communication specializing in spatial relations The specific point of view of this paper is tat this system of communication specializing in spatial realtions can be most fruitfully studied within the paradigm of semiotics or of language.