Structures of Compound Map Symbols Represented with Chinese Characters

The public demand for personalized mapping has surged recently. The automated construction of map symbols has been playing a key role in the facilitation of personalized mapping. Although several studies on map symbols (e.g., on the design of map symbols and explorations of the usability of map symbols) have been conducted, automated construction of map symbols has not been considered deeply. The formal representation of map symbols is believed to be fundamentally important for the automated construction of cartographic theory and, therefore, also for its complete mathematization. The first step to achieve this goal is the formal representation of map-symbol structures. The structures of words can be formally described in natural language. In its hieroglyphic representation, Chinese writing resembles two-dimensional map symbols. This study evaluates the feasibility of using the structures of Chinese characters to represent the structures of map symbols. Two experiments were performed in this regard: a descriptive-statistics-based analysis and a questionnaire-based satisfaction evaluation. The results of the experiments reveal that (1) nearly 80% of map symbols fit perfectly onto the structures of Chinese characters and (2) over half of the experimental participants thought that the structures of map symbols could be represented adequately by those of Chinese characters. These results indicate that the structures of Chinese characters can represent the structures of map symbols. This work could benefit ubiquitous mapping and enrich cartographic theory.