Maps as language/the language of maps

Abstract

The communication model for maps based on an analogy to telephones and radios has fallen into disfavor. However, maps do communicate and do so through what might be termed a cartographic language. Like written communications, maps can be descriptive, narrative, expository, and persuasive, and symbols, color, typeface, text, and projections are all used to communicate information to the map user. I look at how maps communicate and how they have been seen as language.