Effect of Cultural Differences and Referent Characteristics on the Design of Pictographic Map Symbols

Pictographic symbols are used on many kinds of maps because they are able to convey information efficiently. There is still little research on the factors that affect the comprehension of map symbols. In this paper, we analyze the semantic contents of map symbols designed by university students from different countries to study how (1) the concepts to be depicted and (2) the differences in the cultural backgrounds of designers affect the design of the symbols. The results suggest that cultural conventions strongly affect the design and interpretation of map symbols. For some concepts, it is difficult to design an intuitive symbol, even for a user group with a homogeneous cultural background, because of the broadness of the concept or the lack of a logical representation strategy for the concept. In practice, easily interpretable symbols can be achieved by involving a representative set of intended users in creating ideas for the symbols.