Abstract
The object of study is traceable in the questions related to the interpretation of the graphic language of the maps. Maps can be read from different points of view and with different approaches. Specifically, the article pays particular attention to the semiotics of cartography in terms of semantics and syntax in order to illustrate the means by which a map communicates.
The graphic symbols used in preparing the maps can reread them as elements related to the semantics, while their combination and their use allow us to understand the syntax that underlies it.
Through the reading of the graphical elements used in maps, we can guess the ideal appropriation of actually implemented by the cartographer and the aims at the basis of their construction which underlies the reasons for their clients.
In this regard, the article illustrates, through the investigation of some types of maps, how it is possible to construct or deconstruct the graphic language whose purpose is the representation of the Earth.
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Notes
- 1.
The Map consists of a set of geometric, quadrangular and oval elements, joined together by broken lines that form varied configurations.
- 2.
Eratosthenes (276-194 B.C.) was the first to have attempted to measure the Earth’s circumference and made an essential contribution to the mapping by making use of a grid to determine the location of the sites, anticipating the use of Cartesian geometry.
- 3.
The translation is by the author: “Ogni carta è innanzitutto un progetto sul mondo, come l’ambivalenza del vocabolo anglosassone plan ancora certifica, e il progetto di ogni carta è quello di trasformare – giocando d’anticipo, cioè precedendo – la faccia della terra a propria immagine e somiglianza” in Farinelli (1992), I segni del mondo: immagine cartografica e discorso geografico in età moderna, La Nuova Italia, Firenze.
- 4.
The translation is by the author: la precisione assoluta […] non rientra nella sua definizione e nei suoi presupposti; la cartografia infatti non si esaurisce nella misurazione di distanze e di angoli, ma anzi vive […] su una rilevantissima impostazione simbolica.
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Valentino, M. (2020). Geo-Graphic Map as Representation of the Earth. In: Cicalò, E. (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Image and Imagination. IMG 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1140. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41018-6_26
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