Typography in Map Design

Typography in maps refers to symbols and signs in maps. Since maps are graphical representation of spatial relationships that essentially reduce the permutations of space into a two-dimensional topological construct, the role of typography is limited to labeling points, arcs, and polygons (referred to as features) with appropriate and efficient form, style, and weight factors.

In 1990, John B. Harley redefined maps as more than mere efficient representations of physical surfaces. Through a postmodernist reinterpretation of map typography, Harley viewed maps as representations of power. Thus, maps have joined the ranks of other graphical pursuits, such as architecture and design, that encounter such ontological [Page 2893]issues. The impact on typography has been evident ever since the stability of ideas, as Plato imagined it, was challenged in the past two centuries with concepts such as semiotics and deconstruction. Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), a Swiss professor of linguistics and a contemporary of Sigmund Freud, Émile Durkheim, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx, revolutionized the field by introducing the concept of semiotics. The broader epistemological basis for semiotics is contained in structural and poststructural philosophy.

The history of symbols and signs since antiquity has evolved separately in the fields of art, architecture, and cartography, but there are signs of convergence, at least epistemologically.

Since all relevant information cannot be printed on maps, the field of cartography developed a sophisticated ontology. The way the cartographer represented symbols and signs depended on what was viewed as important and appropriately signified the signifier (semiotics). Therefore, the symbol for “north” is interpreted as the direction north, but the orientation of north (up, in most maps) is historically a result of maps mostly constructed as a cultural legacy of the Northern Hemisphere. Therefore, the semiotics of typography is in what it implies and is more complex than functional issues such as what it represents.

With the advent of computer cartography and the possibility of dynamic labeling (through artificial intelligence and haptic manipulations such as “zoom” and “mouse over”), a strict cartographic hierarchy need not be followed; instead, map typography can be dynamically “programmed” to satisfy a large community of map users. The resulting flexibility does not eliminate the complex power structure that Harvey implied earlier but allows for improved efficiency. With artificial intelligence algorithms, the complex demands on map typography can now be better handled than was possible in the earlier era of analog maps.

Since traditionally, map making and mapping software have usually represented feature-based maps (i.e., maps that contain discrete and finite elements that can be represented by points, arcs, and polygons), the representation of “fields,” or continuous objects, has been neglected. However, the dynamic representation of time and space through digital technology now allows for field-based typography. Examples include traffic and weather simulation, as seen in some geographic information software such as Transmodeler.