The cyberspace map, as one of the important tools for describing cyberspace, provides a visual representation of the dynamic and elusive nature of cyberspace. It has become a research hotspot in multiple disciplinary fields. Compared with traditional maps, cyberspace maps lack the guidance of cartography theory and have not yet formed a unified understanding. Clarifying the concept of the cyberspace map and developing a conceptual model of it could enhance people’s unified understanding of cyberspace. Drawing from the perspective of cartography, this paper analyzes the current situation of cyberspace map research, first discussing the characteristics and definition of the cyberspace map and then proposing the conceptual model of a cyberspace map. This model elaborates on the types of map elements and their specific composition, the strength of their element–space association, the mapping of relationships between elements, element symbolization, and map expression. Then, based on the model proposed in this paper, typical maps are compared and analyzed, and design suggestions are provided. Finally, the entire article is summarized. This paper aims to adapt the development trend of cartography to the ternary space, clarify the basic concept of the cyberspace map, promote the development of cyberspace mapping theory, and lay the foundation for future research.

한국멀티미디어학회(The Journal of Curriculum Evaluation)

Cyberspace map, as one of the important tools to describe cyberspace, gives an image to the unpredictable and illusory cyberspace, and has become a research hotspot in the fields of cartography, cyberspace security. Clarifying the concept of cyberspace map and constructing the conceptual model of cyberspace map can promote people's unified cognition of cyberspace. Based on the view of cartography, this paper compares and analyzes some related concepts of cyberspace map, discusses the characteristics of cyberspace map，and gives its concept. After that, it analyzes people's cognition of cyberspace composition. On this basis, it caters to this cognition mode and proposes the conceptual model of cyberspace map. Then, the connotation of the model is elaborated from three aspects: element-space association dimension, element mapping dimension and the map representation dimension. Finally, the specific composition and symbolization of various elements are analyzed. The model provides the top-level framework and theoretical guidance for the research of cyberspace map. This paper aims to adapt to the development trend of Cartography in ternary space, clarify the basic concept of cyberspace map, promote the development of cyberspace mapping theory, and lay the foundation for subsequent research.