Map Use by Adults with Visual Impairments

In this paper we summarize five experiments that were designed to investigate how tactile maps contribute to the cognitive maps of people with visual impairments. In two experiments we demonstrated that tactile maps can contribute to peoples' ability to learn a route through an unfamiliar area. From the results of two further studies, we argue that compared to people with sight, people with visual impairments have greater difficulty encoding information from a map. We considered this directly in a fifth experiment by investigating how people with visual impairments search and learn a map. We found that they used less efficient strategies than people with sight. We conclude that tactile maps are an important source of geographical information when people need to learn about new environments, but we also point out that to benefit most from tactile maps people need to encode the map information as effectively as possible. As people with visual impairments do not always use the most appropriate encoding strategies we suggest that tactile map users might benefit from greater experience and training in map encoding strategies.     

Map Use by Adults with Visual Impairments

In this paper we summarize five experiments that were designed to investigate how tactile maps contribute to the cognitive maps of people with visual impairments. In two experiments we demonstrated that tactile maps can contribute to peoples' ability to learn a route through an unfamiliar area. From the results of two further studies, we argue that compared to people with sight, people with visual impairments have greater difficulty encoding information from a map. We considered this directly in a fifth experiment by investigating how people with visual impairments search and learn a map. We found that they used less efficient strategies than people with sight. We conclude that tactile maps are an important source of geographical information when people need to learn about new environments, but we also point out that to benefit most from tactile maps people need to encode the map information as effectively as possible. As people with visual impairments do not always use the most appropriate encoding strategies we suggest that tactile map users might benefit from greater experience and training in map encoding strategies.     

I.G.U. Commission on Rural Development,Sub-commission on Rural Development in Highlands and High-Altitude Zones

Theories which explain mental imagery are discussed and are related to cognitive maps. An experiment was conducted to illustrate that people can code information about maps as visual images and use map images for a map-reading task. Subjects were shown maps which were rotated at various angles from north-at-the-top. The time needed to decide if a map was a correct or mirror representation was recorded. The results support the notion that people did this task by forming and rotating map images.     

Personalizing map content to improve task completion efficiency

Significant interaction challenges arise in both developing and using interactive map applications. Users encounter problems of information overload in using interactive maps to complete tasks. This is further exacerbated by device limitations and interaction constraints in increasingly popular mobile platforms. Application developers must then address restrictions related to screen size and limited bandwidth in order to effectively display maps on mobile devices. In order to address issues of user information overload and application efficiency in interactive map applications, we have developed a novel approach for delivering personalized vector maps. Ongoing task interactions between users and maps are monitored and captured implicitly in order to infer individual and group preferences related to specific map feature content. Personalized interactive maps that contain spatial feature content tailored specifically to users' individual preferences are then generated. Our approach addresses spatial information overload by providing only the map information necessary and sufficient to suit user interaction preferences, thus simplifying the completion of tasks performed with interactive maps. In turn, tailoring map content to specific user preferences considerably reduces the size of vector data sets necessary to transmit and render maps on mobile devices. We have developed a geographic information system prototype, MAPPER (MAP PERsonalization), that implements our approach. Experimental evaluations show that the use of personalized maps helps users complete their tasks more efficiently and can reduce information overload.     

Improvement of GIS graphics for analysis and decision-making

Abstract

Current geographical information systems (GIS) include functions to create cartographic output interactively or automatically. However, none of the systems presently incorporates mechanisms to ensure correct application of graphic functions. Many of today's users of GIS are not trained in the design and production of graphics and may create maps that confuse or mislead map users. Poorly-designed maps may obliterate the patterns in displayed information.

This article investigates ways to improve the quality of GIS graphical displays and increase their effectiveness for decision-making. Alternatives are presented for improving map design in GIS, ranging from non-technical efforts to enhancement of software functionality. Suggestions propose augmenting users' abilities to create maps in an automated environment, using an approach termed amplified intelligence: key decisions default explicitly to users, whose knowledge is amplified by a range of high-level tools to carry out map design operations automatically.     

Does base map size and imagery matter in sketch mapping?

Sketch mapping has been an important data collection technique for geographers since the 1960s. Structured sketch mapping requires participants to draw spatial data onto a base map containing cartographic information, in order to assist with spatial referencing. A concern that base map characteristics may influence sketch map content has been raised repeatedly in the research literature. However little scholarly attention has been paid to systematically testing the effect of base maps.This paper aims to test the effects of base map size and imagery on structured sketch maps of avoidance behaviour in university students. Using an experimental design, 272 sketch maps were compared for differences in: sketch map style; the location of collective avoidance hotspots; the extent of the reported area avoided; the number of reported areas avoided; the intensity of avoidance; and the tortuosity of sketch map features.No significant differences were found between base maps in sketch map style or the size, intensity or number of areas avoided. Provision of larger base maps caused respondents to draw more detailed sketch maps. Collective avoidance hotspots shifted location slightly between base maps, probably due to difficulties interpreting aerial photographs.Sketch map content appears to be remarkably robust to changes in base map. Base maps appear to assist respondents with spatial referencing rather than cueing respondents to report specific features.     

Fluid Borders: Rethinking Historical Geography and Fixed Map Boundaries in Contested Regions

This article introduces a quantitative methodology for analyzing contested map borders. The article applies the new analytical technique to a data set of thirty maps showing Bulgaria in ca. 800 CE, a disputed state and period in medieval historiography with relevance to modern national politics and territorial claims. Based on the data set, we generate a series of new maps that make explicit the fluid medieval boundaries and general disagreement among geographers and historiographers. Our analysis begins with a simple point-in-polygon procedure to create a majority map that depicts the points included within the borders of the Bulgarian polity in sixteen or more of the maps (>50 percent). The majority map is then combined with percentage maps, confidence interval map boundaries, and cluster maps. The confidence interval maps are created via a spatial bootstrapping procedure and measure the uncertainty in the majority map. The cluster maps are developed via a radial basis function and provide insight into the potential affectivity based on the cartographers' countries of origin. The final map reflects the general modern consensus of the borders of the Bulgarian polity around 800 CE. Besides its quantitative contribution to medieval and modern cartographic, historiographical, and political debates, this article has developed a widely applicable methodology for synthesizing map borders and territories in cases of cartographic disagreement.     

Cartographic support for locational problem‐solving by groups

Collaborative spatial decision‐making environments in which group members individually and collectively pursue solutions to semi‐structured problems have a unique set of geographic visualization requirements. Group members often pursue diverse strategies as they attempt to solve such problems. As a consequence, numerous mapped representations of alternative solutions are generated. It is difficult to compare and synthesize these results, especially when decision‐makers have little or no previous cartographic training. In this paper, we derive several map types that synthesize representations of alternative solutions to location‐selection problems. These synthetic maps, designed to be accessible to group members, are created by decomposing solutions into a collection of atomic elements that are then placed into an accounting framework. Network map algebra operations are performed within this framework, and the results are accumulated and displayed as maps. Group members can use these maps to identify similar and dissimilar elements of alternative solutions to a problem. Such maps are intended to promote discussion and support group consensus‐building activities.     

The Effects of Prior Knowledge on the Learning of Categories of Maps

The purpose of this study is to answer several important questions concerning the learning of categories of geographic information from maps. Categorization is a fundamental part of both learning and communication, and learning and communication are, in turn, central to any field of study. If categorization is a fundamental part of the learning process, then how people categorize information learned from maps must be of concern to cartographers and geographers. This study examines map reader categorization by having subjects in an experimental situation learn categories of maps. The primary variables in this study are the coherence of the categories and the duration of exposure to the categories. It was found that coherent categories cause subjects to rely on prior knowledge. The ability to use prior knowledge allows subjects to learn categories quickly, but it also causes them to make inaccurate assumptions about the category membership. This finding was not altered when subjects were given longer exposures to the category membership.     

Beyond Abstract Map Symbols

Abstract

Crucial aspects of the referent phenomena which provide the subject matter for cartographic symbolism are often overlooked by map interpreters in their haste to “read maps at a glance.” The blame rests largely on those practitioners of the environmental sciences who stress the simple, intuitive nature of maps, while effectively ignoring the true complexity of the cartographic communication process. Those persons who are responsible for traditional map interpretation training programs are also at fault for implying, through long emphasis, that symbol identification, position location, and navigation constitute the essence of map analysis. The intuitive acceptability of map symbols in spite of their abstract character is also a deceptive factor. The fact that there is far “more than meets the eye” to map interpretation is easily demonstrated by looking closely at several basic cartographic symbols. In order to become an effective map user the environmental scientist apparently must go well beyond the mastery of conventional map reading principles and learn to deal with diverse informational dimensions in the context of the map use purpose and the physical/cultural make-up of the geographical region under study.     

IMAGES OF MAPS: A ROTATION EXPERIMENT*

Theories which explain mental imagery are discussed and are related to cognitive maps. An experiment was conducted to illustrate that people can code information about maps as visual images and use map images for a map-reading task. Subjects were shown maps which were rotated at various angles from north-at-the-top. The time needed to decide if a map was a correct or mirror representation was recorded. The results support the notion that people did this task by forming and rotating map images.     

A Review of “Environmental Modelling: An Introduction”

The purpose of this study is to answer several important questions concerning the learning of categories of geographic information from maps. Categorization is a fundamental part of both learning and communication, and learning and communication are, in turn, central to any field of study. If categorization is a fundamental part of the learning process, then how people categorize information learned from maps must be of concern to cartographers and geographers. This study examines map reader categorization by having subjects in an experimental situation learn categories of maps. The primary variables in this study are the coherence of the categories and the duration of exposure to the categories. It was found that coherent categories cause subjects to rely on prior knowledge. The ability to use prior knowledge allows subjects to learn categories quickly, but it also causes them to make inaccurate assumptions about the category membership. This finding was not altered when subjects were given longer exposures to the category membership.     

Interpreting maps through the eyes of expert and novice users

The experiments described in this article combine response time measurements and eye movement data to gain insight into the users' cognitive processes while working with dynamic and interactive maps. Experts and novices participated in a user study with a ‘between user’ design. Twenty screen maps were presented in a random order to each participant, on which he had to execute a visual search. The combined information of the button actions and eye tracker reveals that both user groups showed a similar pattern in the time intervals needed to locate the subsequent names. From this pattern, information about the users' cognitive load could be derived: use of working memory, learning effect and so on. Moreover, the response times also showed that experts were significantly faster in finding the names in the map image. This is further explained by the eye movement metrics: experts had significantly shorter fixations and more fixations per second meaning that they could interpret a larger part of the map in the same amount of time. As a consequence, they could locate objects in the map image more efficiently and thus faster.     

The Cognitive Load of Geographic Information

Multimedia presentations that combine verbal and visual information are increasingly becoming important methods for communicating geographic information. This article discusses literature related to cognitive load theory (CLT) and offers ideas on how this theory might be used for geography education and research. By considering the limitations of the human mind, CLT offers geographers a way to assess critical components of the spatial learning processes. Methods for measuring cognitive load and reducing overloads are discussed within a map context. It is argued that managing the cognitive load experienced by learners is the key to representing geographic information.     

移动地图的自适应模型研究

作为一种新的电子地图应用模式,移动地图的制图模型和应用模式都不同于其他类型的地图。在分析移动地图特点的基础上给出移动地图自适应要素的数据模型与组件结构,将自适应要素划分为时空要素、操作要素、技术要素、信息要素、用户要素以及使用环境要素等。移动地图自适应模型的研究可以指导移动地图的设计,实现其服务的个性化和智能化。     

基于多源地图信息重组的土壤侵蚀背景值图编制

对土地利用图进行信息的挖掘,结合岛状地的界定,提取了其中的岛状地信息;与天然性程度的信息源进行融合,得到了天然岛状地信息;再与土壤侵蚀图、地貌图信息重组,最终得到了土壤侵蚀背景值信息,生成土壤侵蚀背景值图。通过在内蒙古农牧交错带内的试验研究,说明基于土地利用图、土壤侵蚀图和地貌图的多源地图信息重组,编制土壤侵蚀背景值图的方法是可行的。     

How Textbooks Influence the Curriculum in Geography

Abstract

In this study, pairs of students in fifth and seventh grade generated and answered questions based on maps. More than 90 percent of the questions they generated made sense with reference to the map on which they were based. Each of these questions was coded in terms of both its informational content (symbols, latitude and longitude, and scale) and the process by which a map user obtains the information from the map (map reading, map interpreting, map inferring). Results indicated that students most often generated three types of questions, which together accounted for more than 80 percent of all the questions: 1) read symbol, 2) infer latitude and longitude, and 3) interpret scale. Qualitatively, the questions were analyzed for what they revealed about student confusion about map content. Problems with all three aspects of map content were common among both fifth- and seventh-grade students. The problem-posing technique proved useful for evaluating student's knowledge.     

Organization of Feature-, Time-, and Location-Based Mental Models

This study considers how mental models are encoded into memory by viewing visual displays like maps. A mental model is an internal representation of a situation that links objects or concepts to other objects or concepts. Previous studies indicated location-based mental models are encoded when a series of propositional statements such as the object is in the location are read from a text. Evidence that locations were being used as the basic container for an organization of mental models is provided by a significant fan effect. A fan effect shows an increase in reaction time with the number of models considered when making a decision. Features, times, and locations were considered as possible containers in the mental models. Subjects created location-based mental models, but also encoded feature-based mental models. A reverse fan effect for time, found for a map animation, suggested the order of the presentation of maps could greatly affect the structure of learned information.     

Automated landslide mapping using spectral analysis and high-resolution topographic data: Puget Sound lowlands, Washington, and Portland Hills, Oregon

Landslide inventory maps are necessary for assessing landslide hazards and addressing the role slope stability plays in landscape evolution over geologic timescales. However, landslide inventory maps produced with traditional methods — aerial photograph interpretation, topographic map analysis, and field inspection — are often subjective and incomplete. The increasing availability of high-resolution topographic data acquired via airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) over broad swaths of terrain invites new, automated landslide mapping procedures. We present two methods of spectral analysis that utilize LiDAR-derived digital elevation models of the Puget Sound lowlands, Washington, and the Tualatin Mountains, Oregon, to quantify and automatically map the topographic signatures of deep-seated landslides. Power spectra produced using the two-dimensional discrete Fourier transform and the two-dimensional continuous wavelet transform identify the characteristic spatial frequencies of deep-seated landslide morphologic features such as hummocky topography, scarps, and displaced blocks of material. Spatial patterns in the amount of spectral power concentrated in these characteristic frequency bands highlight past slope instabilities and allow the delineation of landslide terrain. When calibrated by comparison with detailed, independently compiled landslide inventory maps, our algorithms correctly classify an average of 82% of the terrain in our five study areas. Spectral analysis also allows the creation of dominant wavelength maps, which prove useful in analyzing meter-scale topographic expressions of landslide mechanics, past landslide activity, and landslide-modifying geomorphic processes. These results suggest that our automated landslide mapping methods can create accurate landslide maps and serve as effective, objective, and efficient tools for digital terrain analysis.     

Ventures into Viral Cartography: Waffle House,Educational Attainment,and the Social Life of Maps

Viral maps—ones that are shared widely on social media and media outlets—have become an increasingly common part of online conversations about a range of issues. Despite the increasing prevalence of these viral maps, only a few academic researchers have examined the factors leading to their popularity or their social use and effect. In this article, we analyze two case studies of viral maps, a viral tweet about the August 2017 total eclipse and an interactive tool for exploring educational attainment by neighborhood in the United States. By reflecting on our experience as authors of these maps and analyzing the reactions they elicited, we identify several key elements of these maps and their circulation. First, viral maps act as a form of phatic communication, allowing users to restate and react to shared social identities. Second, maps are read from specific times and places, and this spatiotemporal context significantly shapes the reactions of map readers. Finally, viral maps illustrate gaps or improvements in trust between mapmakers and map readers, including questions about map accuracy or the intentions behind the map. We close by considering implications for future research and viral cartography. Key Words: online maps, social networks, viral cartography.