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GEOGRAPHY, GRAPHICAL SEMIOLOGY AND COREMATIC

Abstract

Cartography has always played an important role in the work of geographers. In the twenty-first century it is still used extensively in the research process but only as a mere technique. The implications, possibilities and limitations that Cartography places on our thinking are often ignored. To address this problem, this article seeks to establish links between a theory that explains the working of geographic space in the current period and the principal and most relevant cartographic approaches at our disposal. In other words, it is an analysis of the possibilities of dialogue between Milton Santos' theory of Geographic Space, the Graphic Semiology of Jacques Bertin and the Chorem theory of Roger Brunet. On the basis of these, some misunderstandings in the geographical environment about geographical-representation spatial relations are dispelled and other interpretations are proposed. Basically, the debate appears to be fundamentally theoretical and requires a new epistemological stance. Recovering Cartography's place in theoretical Geography is one of the major tasks facing contemporary geographical science.

Key words:
Geographic Space; Cartography; Graphic Semiotics; Chorem Theory

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