Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
that information is manipulated in order to keep public attention
away
from particu-
lar issues, thus avoiding that certain policy issues or policy options ever come into
the public consciousness.
THEORIES ON THE COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTION OF 'MAPS'
1
In parallel to the developments in the planning discipline, the understanding of 'maps'
changed significantly over time in the disciplines of geography and cartography.
During the quantitative revolution, Robinson's
The Look of Maps
(1952) was influ-
ential in defining a new goal for cartography: that maps had to be 'correct' graphically
as well as portraying information correctly. This led to a greater interest in the map
user, and 'the development of design principles based on objective visual tests,
experience and logic; the pursuit of research in the physiological and psychological
effects of colour, and investigations in perceptibility and readability in typography . . .'
(Robinson, 1952: 13). A link between psychology and cartography was forged,
which until the early 1970s mainly resulted in experimental stimuli-response studies
where no specific meaning lies in or beyond the symbols used as stimuli. According
to the behaviourist, only physically observable phenomena matter, and therefore
mental processes that occur between stimulus and response, including all aspects of
thought, are irrelevant because they are not directly observable. Most psychophysical
studies made use of highly simplified maps with little base information or merely
symbols within a frame. This restricted the types of questions that could be investi-
gated and the application of the results to genuine and therefore more complex map-
reading situations (Wood, 1993). In the late 1970s cartographic research developed
in the direction of cognitive psychology and became concerned with how maps were
mentally processed and remembered. This emphasis on cognitive issues in map use
was stimulated in large part by Robinson and Petchenik's
The Nature of Maps
(1976). Cognition, defined as the 'intelligent processes and products of the human
mind' (Flavell, 1977), includes such mental activities as perception, thought, reason-
ing, problem-solving and mental imagery. Much of the work adopted a correspon-
dence theory model of representation which understood the map as a record of the
landscape, with which 'distorted' mental maps could then be compared.
The idea that the design of maps might be essential for the quality and quan-
tity of information transmission led to the adoption of the paradigm of cartography
as a communication science. Communication was by the 1970s regarded as the
primary function of cartography. Cartographic communication describes the
process whereby information is selected, symbolised on a map and subsequently
perceived, recognised and interpreted. The goals of cartography according to this
model were to produce a single optimal map 'which presents information clearly,
