The possibility of digital interactivity requires us to reenvision the map reader as the map user, and to address the perceptual, cognitive, cultural, and practical considerations that influence the user's experience with interactive maps and visualizations. In this article, we present an agenda for empirical research on this user and the interactive designs he or she employs. The research agenda is a result of a multi-stage discussion among international scholars facilitated by the International Cartographic Association that included an early round of position papers and two subsequent workshops to narrow into pressing themes and important research opportunities. The focus of our discussion is epistemological and reflects the wide interdisciplinary influences on user studies in cartography. The opportunities are presented as imperatives that cross basic research and user-centered design studies, and identify practical impediments to empirical research, emerging interdisciplinary recommendations to improve user studies, and key research needs specific to the study of interactive maps and visualizations.

Study of the environmental outcomes of urban densification is a highly context-dependent task. Our study shows that collecting and processing place-based survey data by means of the softGIS method is clearly helpful here. With the map-based internet questionnaire each response remains connected to both the physical environment and the everyday life of the respondent. In our study of the Kuninkaankolmio area (located in the Helsinki metropolitan region) the survey data were combined with urban density variables calculated from register-based data on the existing built environment. The regression analysis indicated that the participants in the survey preferred the same density factors for their future residence as they enjoyed in their current neighbourhood. In the second analysis we related the densities of planned infill developments with the interest respondents had shown in these projects. The results show that new and even quite dense infill developments have been found to be rather attractive, with them often being viewed as interesting supplements to the current urban texture. These findings contribute to the ongoing scientific discussion on the feasibility of densification measures and encourage the Kuninkaankolmio planners to proceed, albeit carefully, with the planned infill developments.

International crisis management is a field where numerous national, organisational and domain cultures encounter one another, causing problems in information transfer between various actors. The symbols used in situation maps in this kind of an environment should be culturally independent and value-free in order to be properly understood. However, designing culturally independent symbols is difficult because the cultural background of an individual is complex and influences the interpretation of symbols in many ways. In this paper, we discuss the influences of different cultural background factors on both the design and the comprehension of map symbols. Cultural influences are considered as conventions in code systems, definitions in formal and informal conceptual models, and conventions in aesthetic judgments. As examples in the discussion, we use findings from a symbol design project for situation maps in international crisis management.

No abstract

Maps should be legible at all scales, and the information density of a map should be adapted to fulfill this goal. However, there are situations in which overlapping symbols might not be easily avoided. These kinds of cluttered or over-plotted situations often occur today in geovisual analytics and in map mash-ups created using Web 2.0 technologies. In this research project, we examine via a user test the extent to which occluded symbols can still be identifiable. Specifically, we tested how different levels of occlusion affected the accuracy and response time of finding symbols that varied in either color hue, abstract shape, or pictogram. The results of the test show that the efficiency of the symbols decreases when the symbols become partially occluded. Still, even half-occluded complex shapes can be identified quite accurately. Symbols varying in color hue seem to tolerate occlusion the best.