Boas cercas fazem bons vizinhos: a incerteza posicional dos limites territoriais

Abstract

Territorial limits, such as international, state and municipal limits, and a multitude of areas established by laws or legal acts, are part of our daily lives. Whether on the “municipal boundary” signs that we cross on the roads in our daily commutes, or delimiting the colorful regions, called countries, on geopolitical maps. We are so used to such features that we hardly stop to contest their nature. Although the function of a territorial limit is obvious, its materialization on the Earth's surface and its respective cartographic representation is not so obvious. The agreements and laws that define such limits have several stages of detail, ranging from centuries-old descriptions to those that use coordinates obtained by the most advanced geospatial positioning techniques. However, these descriptions are rarely free of any kind of uncertainty in their interpretation. This work aims to systematize the sources of uncertainties and the processes that generate divergences in the definition, allocation and representation of territorial limits. At the end, it is expected to draw a general panorama that helps researchers and professionals who work as producers or as users of territorial limits to better understand the origin of several problems related to the management, use, representation and application of territorial limits.