http://www.formfollowsbehavior.com/2006/11/24/texture-and-orientation/ informal reflections Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:25:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://www.formfollowsbehavior.com/2006/11/24/texture-and-orientation/#comment-18 formfollowsbehavior.com » Blog Archive » Mapping and metaphor Tue, 13 Feb 2007 03:26:38 +0000 http://www.formfollowsbehavior.com/2006/11/24/texture-and-orientation/#comment-18 [...] Like typography, maps can be read at various scales—both macro and micro. Recently, Edward Tufte wrote about the power of images as logos when read at a macro scale. Maps work the same way. At a micro scale, maps are functional information carriers. At a macro scale, maps may become iconic, and as icons, they are metaphoric signifiers. Orientation comes from recognition of place, and geographic maps, as signifiers of place, help form recognition through identity. What comprises identity is a similar question to what makes places unique: it is never a single thing, but the combination of many elements that form a whole. [...] [...] Like typography, maps can be read at various scales—both macro and micro. Recently, Edward Tufte wrote about the power of images as logos when read at a macro scale. Maps work the same way. At a micro scale, maps are functional information carriers. At a macro scale, maps may become iconic, and as icons, they are metaphoric signifiers. Orientation comes from recognition of place, and geographic maps, as signifiers of place, help form recognition through identity. What comprises identity is a similar question to what makes places unique: it is never a single thing, but the combination of many elements that form a whole. [...]

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