Predicting the moment when a visual explorer of a place loses interest and starts to get bored is of considerable importance to the design of touristic information services. This paper investigates factors affecting the duration of the visual exploration of a city panorama. We report on an empirical outdoor eye tracking study in the real world with tourists following a free exploration paradigm without a time limit. As main result, the number of areas of interest revisited during a short period was found to be a good predictor for the total exploration duration.

No abstract

No abstract

This paper deals with the implementation of the Geogame Neocartographer in a theoretically based developed learning environment for secondary education, using the design-based research methodology (DBR). The research interests in this context are to which extent motivation can be created, and how it affects the students' performance, as well as the effects of the game on aspects of spatial thinking.

No abstract

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, places of public encounter were effectively inhibited by lockdown regulations. In addition to several quantitative studies of the impact of the ongoing pandemic on society, little is known about the use of one’s spatial environment on individual coping strategies mitigating physical isolation. Through an explorative qualitative study we derived a typology of coping strategies that helped participants to balance responsible action and the urgent need for social contact.Our approach aligns with well-known theory in the field of place (Cresswell 2020) and place-bound sociality (cf. Schatzki 2002) in the context of phenomenology (Sloan & Bowe 2014, Rehorick 1991, Seamon 1979). Sixteen participants were selected reflecting diverse conceptualisation of community and representing socioeconomic and gender diversity in both urban and rural areas of the German state of Bavaria. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in the beginning of the second wave of COVID-19 restrictions from the end of November 2020 to early December, to reflect expectations and early routines associated with the isolation. In addition to social and individual, a variety of environment-related coping strategies can be observed. We (1) interpret those coping strategies, (2) discuss the essential function of places for the coordination and negotiation of social activities, and (3) relate the importance of public spaces to weak social ties (Granovetter1973) emphasising their outstanding value for individual wellbeing.

No abstract

As other crises before, the COVID-19 pandemic put established discursive routines at stake. By framing the pandemic as a crisis, an immediate search for adequate counter-measures started to define proper means of mitigation and protection for the population. In the early stages of COVID-19, when little reliable information on the virus and its transmission behaviour was available, an intense use of metaphor to explain and govern the crisis had to be expected. Beside its well-known impact on (geo-)politics, a thorough analysis especially of the use of spatial metaphors to reason about the crises is still missing. In our approach, we rely on the foundational work of Lakoff and Johnson (1980) on image schemata, and prior work on spatial metaphors as part of argumentation patterns from cultural geography (Schlottmann, 2008). After a thorough analysis of prominent examples according to the argumentation scheme of Toulmin (1976 [1958]), we explored examples from the pre-existing corpus on COVID-19, deliberately compiled by DWDS for analysis of language patterns used throughout the pandemic. In a subsequent filter-refinement approach building on methods from cognitive linguistics and utilising a chunk of the same corpus, we were able to obtain and discuss results on the variety of spatial metaphors used at that time.