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This communication model of maps, inherited from the
transmission model, was to be the dominating paradigm
until the 1980s, after Koláčný's nomination as head
of the work group on cartographic information within the
powerful
International
Cartographic
Association
[MON 02, p.290-291].
As the literature around the MCM is mostly Anglo-Saxon,
it tends to leave out the prior work of Abraham Moles on this
cross-over between information and communication theory
and cartography 2 . Moles' interest for Shannon and Weaver is
known, as he contributed to publicizing their work in the
French-speaking world, for instance through his preface to
the French edition of their topic A Mathematical Theory of
Communication (1975). A few years earlier, on the basis of
these authors' theory, Moles also submitted a first model for
the transmission of the “cartographic message”, with the aim
of making the public understand the geographically
represented data [MOL 64, p.11]. He would then take into
account the various mediations in the transmission of a
cartographic message while considering the map as a
message between its author and its recipient (see
Figure 2.2). These mediations were as much social, as
indicated by the presence of a publisher, as symbolic as there
is a minimum of similarity required among the “sets of
symbols” for the map to become intelligible.
Moreover, Moles' model offers to quantify the “density of
information” transmitted by the map from the emitter to the
recipient. To him, one of the greatest challenges for the
cartographer is to reduce this density on the map so as to
reach a balance between redundancy and the originality of
the information. He suggests that the cartographer “add less
2 In France, Gilles Palsky's work emphasizes the importance of Moles in
theorizing cartographic communication; please see [PAL 03, p.117].
 
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