When video game makers hire a research group to study the impact of symbology in video game maps, who do they reach out to? You guessed it, the GIS community!
Witcher 3 Survey Designed for GIS Community Feedback
The tanislaw Pawlowski Geographers Student Research Group (Cartographic and Geomatics Section) of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (Poland) has released a survey on [Reddit] here. seeking the GIS community for assistance with the interpretation of map symbology. Specifically, they were examining map symbols from The Witcher, one of my favorite books, video games, and Netflix series. Clearly, we are discussing fantasy symbology and not real-world places, but do the same rules apply? Are you not going to identify a red "X" on a map with the location of a pirate's buried treasure?
During the 2020 California wildfires, Cal-Fire provided public damage assessment maps similar to this one. The red homes were destroyed, followed by the orange as damaged, then the yellow as slightly damaged, and so on. It could be argued that the undamaged houses should have been green instead of black, but I believe either option is appropriate.
As members of the GIS community, I believe it is an honor to be included as survey respondents for video game symbology. It is a healthy habit to observe and comprehend symbology not just in maps, but in the world around us also. This just serves to improve our design skills. So when a video game developer is asking for help. we, the GIS community, should assist. Check it out [here](https://forms.gle/qqnyzH5MgSVvRgpM9) if you have not seen it and wish to participate in the survey.