Semantics , Syntax , and Pragmatics of Graphics 12

Graphics count among the oldest and newest forms of communication. Maps, for example, have been drawn in the sand or incised in stone or imprinted in clay for millennia. Maps now appear on PDAs or are downloaded from websites or are updated in car navigation systems. Ancient maps and modern ones, maps produced by professionals and those created by novices, by children and by adults, share many features. They schematize the information, eliminating some of it and simplifying other (Tversky, 2000). Long distances with little of importance are shortened, curves are eliminated, turns are simplified to 90 degrees. Maps also display information not present in the terrain, names of landmarks, icons for churches or markets, and boundaries. Maps may present perspectives not possible in the world, showing overviews of networks of roads and frontal views of salient landmarks. These distortions and embellishments of actual space seem to