Pictorial Symbols were commonly used in tourist maps because they could readily understand without the aid of legend. For this study, ten pictorial symbols were selected from two hundred tourist maps to analyze the cognition of Taiwanese students. The results show that only parking, airport and temple symbols received a high rate of cognition. Moreover, even ISO approved symbols did not generate a high score of cognition. This study therefore demonstrates that the level of cognition is influenced by culture, language and religion. Based on the results of this study, the ten symbols were divided into three different groups according to their level of cognition and, this classification in turn can be used as a reference for the design of local Taiwan maps.