A Verbal Approach to Characterizing the Look of Maps

From a Dry Statement of Facts to a Thing of Beauty: Understanding Aesthetics in the Mapping and Counter-Mapping of Place

“…his holistic view is worth considering because the user's aesthetic response is a reaction to the entire design of the map (Petchenik 1974). Indeed, according to Keates (1984), it is only the map's complete form which commands aesthetic attention.…”

Aesthetics: A Lost Cause in Cartographic Theory?

“…According to Petchenik (1974), the viewer's first reaction to the map, under most conditions of use, is not to these individual elements of display, but rather to the map as a whole. 33 The continuation in the development of abstract symbology rather than any radical treatment of the landscape is likely to have been a main factor leading to the creation of Alan Collinson's Virtual Worlds; a radical departure from conventional cartographic symbology to the illustrative array of pixels created through landscape generation software. It is worth considering the language that Collinson uses in providing captions to his images.…”

Evaluation of Thematic Maps Using the Semantic Differential Test

“…However, there are undoubtedly other semantic scales which would also be relevant in evaluating maps and could, perhaps, tap other factors not revealed here. Examples of such scales are suggested by Petchenik (1974).…”

“…" The position taken by Petchenik is that the map reader's first response is to the map as a whole rather than to its individual elements and that the reaction is more subjective than objective. She suggests, also, that an appropriate method for measuring the subjective response to maps is through the semantic differential technique (Petchenik, 1974). Arnheim (1976), writing on the perception of maps, states that the primary property of percepts is the dynamic "interaction of visual forces" and not the "measurable phenomena corresponding to wavelength, dimensio~; distances, and the geometry of shapes.…”