ABSTRACT
Maps are quintessential tools and symbols for geographers that often make up an important component of their research results. Images in general are of interest in this field because of their common association with various cognitive, spatial, or representational forms of mapping. Giambattista Nolli’s 1748 map is one of the most significant physical representations of a specific location. This post-Renaissance Enlightenment map set an historical and anthropological precedent for an urban mapping of what can be defined as ‘interpretative mapping,’ a form of mapping social convention, more than a mere sensorial survey. Map images continue to be of great significance although a shift of emphasis has occurred in late modernity regarding some of the search for scientific rigour in relation to mapping representations. Mapping imagery acts on many metaphorical levels as a visual expression and mnemonic device.
