Expanding the Sémiologie Graphique for contemporary cartography,some ideas from visual semiotics,art history and design

ABSTRACT

In this article, we describe some ideas based on Bertin’s Sémiologie Graphique with a focus on extending it for aesthetic quality issues in cartography. We consider research in semiotics, aesthetics, and graphic design, with some fruitful results about the use of color or composition. We present several tools, oriented toward a pedagogical use and accessibility, helping to examine the color composition of an expressing image or to create meaningful gradients. While Bertin’s concepts still remain relevant and efficient, specific ideas can be developed further, to adapt to current media and gain from scientific advances from related disciplines.     

Bertin’s matrix concepts reconsidered: transformations of semantics and semiotics to support geovisualization use

A system for managing and visualizing archaeological finds and their spatio-temporal properties is presented. The system is an attempt to combine archaeologists' interest to keep track of time with interests related to the representation and visualization of the spatio-temporal component of archaeological excavations, with the help of cartographic and GIS methods and techniques. Several parameters of a prehistoric excavation such as finds, their thematic characteristics, and their spatio-temporal distributions are examined. A three-dimensional GIS/cartographic environment and its user interface to the excavation database have been developed as a tool for enhancing archaeological interpretation in an exploratory environment. The development of the system is an ongoing task; the article describes its current use as a prototype.     

Jacques Bertin’s legacy in information visualization and the reorderable matrix

ABSTRACT

Jacques Bertin’s legacy extends beyond the domain of cartography, and in particular to the field of information visualization where he continues to inspire researchers and practitioners. Although in the late twentieth century his books were out of print, their reedition around 2010 has steered a renewed interest and inspired new generations of researchers to reinterpret the principles of Semiology of Graphics and La Graphique in a time of interactive computers. In particular, the work of Jacques Bertin on the reorderable matrix has been very challenging in his time, and the quest to its automation has not been satisfactory to him. This article summarizes Bertin’s approach to the reorderable matrix, underlines the limitations of fully automated reordering methods, and introduces Bertifier, a hybrid system to reorder matrices using a combination of machine assistance and human control.     

Reflection on the development of the tool kits of Bertin’s methods

ABSTRACT

Bertin’s first book, Semiology of Graphics, was published in 1967. His second book, Graphics and Graphic Information Processing, was subsequently published in 1977. The word “processing” in the title of the second book is interesting because in those days there were no personal computers with an interactive display system. But in Bertin’s laboratory there were many kinds of tool kits – basically manually developed thematic maps and data analysis. Bertin’s methods were concerned with making a thematic map and data visualization. Maps, and more generally graphics, were represented by sets of cartographic symbols. Thus, they are abstractions that demand both theoretical and technical literacy to represent and understand them. If the representation is systematic, a sort of tool kit might be necessary, because the representation demands consistency based on the theory. Otherwise a cartographer faces the risk of an unstable and unintelligible representation. In this paper, we discuss the discrimination between tool kits intended either for an automated system or a process assisting system. The latter process might be useful and necessary to develop a graphic way of thinking. This investigation refers to Bertin’s books, materials conserved at the National Archives in Paris, and other related software developed later.

Abbreviation: EHESS: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales inherited Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes since 1975     

The First Ordnance Survey District Maps of England,Wales and Scotland 1857–1898

Abstract

The main goal of this research is to set a group of typographic criteria to suit a wide array of map users. A group of Bertin’s visual variables were applied individually and associatively for the same set of labels. Two kinds of maps (with point and areal objects) were presented to expert and non-expert map users and analysed accordingly. Additionally, the effect of gender variation was taken into account. The data were aggregated and studied for each graphical variable. For some combinations of Bertin’s variables, statistically significant differences were detected in the preferences of the different map users (e.g. male versus female and expert versus non-expert). Consequently, we identified which graphical variables (individually or combined) were more preferred by specific user groups in relation to their application on text objects.     

Translating Bertin into Arabic today: new hidden facets of Semiology of Graphics

ABSTRACT

Semiology of Graphics is a seminal work of contemporary cartography. Published in 1967 by Jacques Bertin, the book attracted as much mistrust as it did interest even if some claims seem obsolete or outdated with the advent of GIS. This article discusses some underlying perspectives regarding an Arabic translation of Sémiologie Graphique. First, one may question the usefulness and the language of translation, and what issues readers should learn or be aware of before reading the book. In the Arab world, little research has engaged graphical semiology and its paradigms are rarely encountered. Second, only a limited number of graphical procedures have been experimented or implemented by digital means. There is a gap between some theoretical statements and their practical applications. Third, many other semiological aspects remain, in substance, little known in detail. This article considers whether these should be revisited by visualization and graphical analytics.     

Jacques Bertin,from classical training to systematic thinking of graphic signs

ABSTRACT

Nearly 50 years after the publication of the first French edition of Sémiologie Graphique, Jacques Bertin’s thought is more than ever alive, in cartography as well as in various other disciplines, such as graphic design or visual data analysis. This article recalls the main elements of Bertin’s career and puts forward the salient points of his reflection on graphics. Beyond many conceptual or technical innovations, Bertin’s essential originality appears to be his attempt to propose a general framework for graphical representations.