Symbolic representation on geographic concepts and their mutual relationships

Abstract

Cartographic language has the characteristics of natural language. As the vocabulary in cartographic language, cartographic symbols are composed of exterior form and idealistic content. Geographic concepts are the essential attribute of geographic objects and cell of geographic thinking. Geographic concepts are thinking form of human brain and are invisible, which only needed to be represented by a certain form. Aiming at the problem of symbolic representation in geographic concepts and their mutual relationships, the geometrical composition of symbols of large scale topographic maps and the semantic and geometrical relationships among symbols were analyzed, the symbols system of topographic maps was regarded as a two-dimensional graphic language, and the relationship between symbols and geographic concepts was discussed. According to concept of logic and geometrical shape of symbols the represented categories of geographic concepts and their mutual relationships on the basis of symbols of topographic maps were defined and the actual examples were given, which provides the use for reference for studying cartographic language by logic method.