Measured and perceived visual complexity: a comparative study among three online map providers

We present a study on human perception of map complexity, with the objective of better understanding design decisions that may lead to undesirable levels of complexity in web maps. We compare three complexity metrics to human ratings of complexity obtained through a user survey. Specifically, we use two algorithmic approaches published by others, which measure feature congestion (FC) and subband entropy (SE), as well as our own approach of counting object types rather than individual objects. We compare these metrics with each other as well as with human complexity ratings for three maps of the same area from map providers Google Maps, Bing Maps, and OpenStreetMap. Each map design is assessed at three different scales (levels of detail). We find that (1) the FC and SE metrics appear to be adequate predictors of what humans consider complex; (2) object-type counts are slightly less successful at predicting human-rated complexity, implying that clutter is more important in perceived complexity than diversity of symbology; and (3) generalization choices do impact human complexity ratings. These findings contribute to our understanding of what makes a map complex, with implications for designing maps that are easy to use.     

Design principles for origin-destination flow maps

Origin-destination flow maps are often difficult to read due to overlapping flows. Cartographers have developed design principles in manual cartography for origin-destination flow maps to reduce overlaps and increase readability. These design principles are identified and documented using a quantitative content analysis of 97 geographic origin-destination flow maps without branching or merging flows. The effectiveness of selected design principles is verified in a user study with 215 participants. Findings show that (a) curved flows are more effective than straight flows, (b) arrows indicate direction more effectively than tapered line widths, and (c) flows between nodes are more effective than flows between areas. These findings, combined with results from user studies in graph drawing, conclude that effective and efficient origin-destination flow maps should be designed according to the following design principles: overlaps between flows are minimized; symmetric flows are preferred to asymmetric flows; longer flows are curved more than shorter or peripheral flows; acute angles between crossing flows are avoided; sharp bends in flow lines are avoided; flows do not pass under unconnected nodes; flows are radially distributed around nodes; flow direction is indicated with arrowheads; and flow width is scaled with represented quantity.     

豫西宜阳上二叠统孙家沟组孢粉组合及其地质意义*

豫西宜阳上二叠统孙家沟组为一套陆相碎屑岩,在该组中部土门段砂泥互层中发现大量的植物化石碎片和孢粉化石。文中依据孙家沟组沉积特征及孢粉组合区域对比,厘定了土门段的地质时代,并依据孢粉化石的亲缘植物关系和信息函数,结合微量元素Sr/Cu值指标,定性和半定量分析了宜阳地区的古气候特征。结果显示: 土门段共发现52属孢粉化石,以裸子植物花粉占优势,与华北地区晚二叠世孢粉组合特征有很大的相似性,推测其地质时代相当于晚二叠世长兴期。孢粉化石属种的植物亲缘关系与欧美镁灰岩统植物成分类似,表明整体上为较炎热的半干旱古气候。该成果可为华北地区晚二叠世晚期的陆相沉积环境、古植物背景以及古气候演化研究提供参考依据。     

基于自组织映射的长江中下游夏季天气分型及其降水特征

利用欧洲中心1979—2015年夏季6—8月ERA-Interim逐日再分析资料和国家气候中心CN05.1格点化降水观测数据集,引入基于自组织映射SOM(Self-Organizing Maps)方法进行长江中下游地区夏季海平面气压空间距平场的客观分型,得到该地区25种地面天气型及其系统演变特征,发现天气型的稳定、转移与天气系统强弱有关。高低压系统越强,天气型停滞频率越高,天气型越稳定;反之,天气型越不稳定。基于SOM天气型转移概率,发现三条与局地降水联系的系统演变路径,其中1号路径暖空气势力强盛,副高北上,推动锋面北抬,产生江北降水型,多发生在7月;路径2反映冷空气势力强盛推动锋面南下的天气过程,产生沿江降水型,该天气型在6、7月均易发生;路径3表现为台风移动变化对长江下游江南地区降水的影响,为江南降水型,且集中在8月。通过引入SOM方法对逐日天气尺度环流进行分型,从气候态上捕捉与降水有关的天气系统的移动变化特征,体现SOM方法在模拟天气系统演变的优势。     

地图的哲学内涵及其作用探讨

通过分析哲学和地图本质特征之间的关联,探讨了地图的哲学内涵及其在实现地图目的中起到的作用,尝试在通过地图认识世界、改造世界的探索道路上寻根溯源,从强化根基的角度使地图在新时代发挥更大的作用.     

Characteristics of bottom dissolved oxygen in Long Island Sound,New York

The variability of bottom dissolved oxygen (DO) in Long Island Sound, New York, is examined using water quality monitoring data collected by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection from 1995 to 2004. Self-organizing map analysis indicates that hypoxia always occurs in the Narrows during summer and less frequently in the Western and the Central Basins. The primary factor controlling the bottom DO, changes spatially and temporally. For non-summer seasons, the levels of bottom DO are strongly associated with water temperature, which means DO availability is primarily driven by solubility. During summer, stratification intensifies under weak wind conditions and bottom DO starts to decrease and deviate from the saturation level except for stations in the Eastern Basin. For the westernmost and shallow (<15 m) stations, bottom DO is correlated with the density stratification (represented by difference between surface and bottom density). In contrast, at deep stations (>20 m), the relationship between oxygen depletion and stratification is not significant. For stations located west of the Central Basin, bottom DO continues to decrease during summer until it reaches its minimum when bottom temperature is around 19–20 °C. In most cases the recovery to saturation levels at the beginning of fall is fast, but not necessarily associated with increased wind mixing. Therefore, we propose that the DO recovery may be a manifestation of either the reduced microbial activity combined with the depletion of organic matter or horizontal exchange. Hypoxic volume is weakly correlated to the summer wind speed, spring total nitrogen, spring chlorophyll a, and maximum river discharge. When all variables are combined in a multiple regression, the coefficient of determination (r²) is 0.92. Surprisingly, the weakest variable is the total nitrogen, because when it is excluded the coefficient r² only drops to 0.84. Spring bloom seems to be an important source of organic carbon pool and biological uptake of oxygen plays a more crucial role in the seasonal evolution of bottom DO than previously thought. Our results indicate that the reassessment phase of the Long Island Sound Total Maximum Daily Load policy on nitrogen loading will most likely fail, because it ignores the contributions of the spring organic carbon pool and river discharge. Also, it is questionable whether the goal of 58.5% anthropogenic nitrogen load reduction is enough.     

面向汉语的自然语言路径描述方法

自然语言路径描述是运用日常生活中人们习惯的语言方式和思维方式来表达路径信息的。而可视化描述和自然语言描述相结合,可以使电子地图向用户提供图文并茂的路径查询服务。目前,电子地图在移动设备和Internet日益普及,自然语言路径描述成为电子地图大众化和人性化服务的重要标志之一。因此,路径描述中需要重点解决空间关系的自然语言描述问题。自然语言中空间关系描述的语言特征与心理学和认知语言学有着非常密切的关系。本文描述了针对汉语的路径描述词汇库的结构与内容,并根据汉语特点设计了路径描述的单元和复合句法模式,以解决词汇受限和句法模式单一的问题,提出了道路名称、沿途标志性地物和方向判断等路径描述补充信息的获取方法,以增加路径描述的可理解性。并以南京市电子地图为例,开发了电子地图查询原型系统。该系统能够在地图上可视化显示最短路径的同时,自动生成该路径的自然语言描述。     

道路交通空间数据WebGIS发布技术探讨

介绍道路交通空间数据WebGIS发布技术研究的必要性。在介绍WebGIS的功能特点的基础上,简要介绍了超图软件SuperMapIS．NET的特性。最后,详细论述了运用SuperMapIS．NET发布交通数据的步骤,并做了简要数据地图的发布实现。     

浅谈编制湖北省市县城区地图的技术特点

《湖北省市县城区地图》打破了公开版地图惯常只采用出版软件制作的思路,与建库结合起来,使地图数据既能满足公开出版的要求,又能兼顾建库的需要,提供了一个开放性的基础平台,是数字化向信息化、网络化方向发展的产物。     

基于ArcGIS的土地利用现状图的编制

提出了基于ArcGIS的土地利用现状图编制的整体思路,对其中关键技术的实现进行了详细的阐述。