The design of thematic point symbols involves encoding attributes of the object represented that will assist map users in (1) establishing the symbol's meaning, but also (2) in finding it in visual search. Accepting experimental evidence that colour is the most useful sorting dimension, internal variations in per cent area inked and shape were examined experimentally in four types of tourist symbols, varying from abstract to pictographic. Results of a simple map reading experiment show that enclosing pictographic symbols with simple geometric 'frames' significantly decreases their search time. The use of purely abstract symbols further reduces search times, but at the cost of significantly greater errors in identification.
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Forrest et al. (1985) studied this question.