Map is a kind of powerful means to help people in understanding the objective world.The key function of map is to transmit spatial information.The measurement of spatial information of maps dates back to 1960s,when the information theory of communication was introduced to the field of cartography. The introduction led to a new branch of cartography,i.e.cartographic information theory.This paper provides a review of the development of cartographic information theory over the past 50 years.Emphasis is on the evolution from the special to the general cartographic information theory.%地图是人类认识客观世界的有力工具。地图的核心功能是传输空间信息。自20世纪60年代源自通信领域的信息论被引入地图信息度量，现代地图学已经发展了一个崭新的研究领域———地图信息论。本文旨在对近50年来地图信息论的发展历程进行回顾，论述从狭义到广义地图信息论的基本概念、研究进展及应用领域，最后对地图信息论的发展进行了展望。
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