Maps and depictions constitute relational systems of visual and spatial data. Is it possible to read and interpret them together, to produce them in conjunction, and to enhance their intelligibility?

"Every act of representation is an act of representation for someone" (Johann Huizinga, Homo Ludens). Consequently, visual communication operates as a language between individuals, the conventions and structures of which require conscious mastery. Those who master a language are better able to communicate, to understand others more clearly, and to teach others how to make themselves understood.

 

The primary aim of iconocartography is to establish a structured methodological framework that facilitates the accurate recording, systematic analysis, and cartographic documentation of visual artefacts prior to any interpretative engagement—and, where interpretation does occur, only insofar as it remains closely grounded in the object itself.

At a time increasingly characterised by the subjectivisation of interpretation, iconocartography offers a methodologically disciplined alternative. The approach is inherently transdisciplinary, drawing on principles from cartography, art history, art psychology, hermenutic, epistemiology and perceptual psychology. In addition, it may serve as a tool for enhancing methodological control and communicability in the production of map-like representations.