WHAT ARE CARTOGRAPHIC SIGNS? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The Cartographic signs are signs that illustrate objects of reality in the field map. These signs have some attributes of their own, such as their meaning and location, and other attributes inherited from the map such as scale or projection, among others.

These signs that are illustrated on the map are in turn graphic symbols that represent an object of reality and that on many occasions are internationally agreed upon as conventions to facilitate their understanding.

Thus, cartographic signs can help to find, from a place to eat, to a road.

Elements of cartographic signs

Cartographic signs merge at least three important elements in the field of a map:

-The inscription, that is, a signifier or a physical mark.

-The referent, that is, the object or concept meaning.

-The location or coordinates in an XY plane.

Objects or concepts commonly represented by cartographic signs

There are many, perhaps infinite, elements that can be represented in cartographic signs.

It is common for cartographic signs to allow the user to find the location of a fuel service station, a hospital or a camping area on a highway.

The cartographic signs can also give information to the user about the characteristics of a road, the presence of railroad crossings or even the existence of rivers or other sources of water near said road.

Support elements in cartographic signs

The cartographic signs cannot give a complete explanation of what they want to represent by themselves. It is necessary to resort to support elements that allow the user to understand how the field of the cartographic sign is used.

An example of this type of element is the captions. The legends provide the explanation of the different symbols, shapes, and colors that appear on the map.

Among other more common support elements are:

-Titles

-Scales

-Directional indicators

-Metadata projections.

Any other text or production that expands or clarifies the arguments of the cartographic signs can also be part of these elements.

Aspects for the construction of cartographic signs

Cartographic signs can display various types of information about maps and their qualities. However, for such information to be transmitted correctly, several aspects must be taken into account during its construction.

By their nature, maps are concepts and by themselves do not represent anything. This implies that cartographic signs must facilitate the user's thinking, communication and decision-making based on biological, cultural and psychological factors.

Without taking these factors into account, the communicative purpose of cartographic signs cannot be achieved.

Another aspect that must be taken into account is that for the construction of the maps of cartographic signs, a process is carried out where certain objects or ideas are privileged over others.

These concepts are later transformed into simple two-dimensional entities and statements are made that allow their understanding through classifications, symbolizations, and locations.

Themes of interest

What are the Elements of a Map?

References

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3. Harley J. Deconstructing the map. Cartographica: the international journal for geographic information and visualization. 1989; 26 (2): 1-20.
4. Henderson G. Waterstone M. (2009). Routledge. Geographic Thought: A Praxis Perspective.
5. Rod J. Cartographic Signs and Arbitrariness. Cartographica: the international journal for geographic information and visualization. 2004; 39 (4): 27-36.
6. Vasilev S. (2006) A NEW THEORY FOR SIGNS IN CARTOGRAPHY. Proceedings of International Conference on Cartography and GIS, Borovec, Bulgaria; pp 25-28.