ABSTRACT

Maps are representational means that enable people to solve different types of problems with respect to the external, geographical world. From the perspective of the map user, the map is a knowledge source, which has to be interpreted, to become applicable as background knowledge for solving spatial or geographical problems. Interpretation-as a cognitive process-depends on the user and the context. In other words, different users will come to different results using the same map in the same problem-solving task, due to their subjective differences in map interpretation. From the perspective of the mapmaker, the mapping from a region of the external, geographical world to the representation, i.e. to the map, should follow principles that guarantee some objective conditions of correspondence between the representation and the represented part of the world. Following this line of thought, cartography can be characterized as the scientific discipline that investigates the principles of correspondence on the basis of mathematics as well as empirical sciences. On the other hand, the mapmaker has to produce a map that is interpretable by the map user for solving spatial problems. Taking this view of “maps as representations for communication” makes ensuring the success of communication a prominent task in the production of maps (see MacEachren, 1995 and Frank, 2000 on the communicational function of maps).