Spatial perception is formed throughout our entire lives. Its quality depends on our individual differences and the characteristics of the environment. A sketch map is one way of visualising an individual’s spatial perception. It can be evaluated like a real map, in terms of its positional accuracy, content frequency and choice of cartographic methods. Moreover, the factors influencing the sketch map and/or its individual parameters can be identified. These factors should be of interest to geographers, cartographers and/or (geography) educators. The aim of this paper is to identify and describe the factors that clearly affect sketch map quality, by conducting a systematic review of 90 empirical studies published since 1960. Results show that most empirical studies focus on individual differences more than on environmental characteristics or information sources, even though the importance of these overlooked factors, especially source map characteristics and geographical education, has been proven in most analysed studies. Therefore, further research is needed in the field of sketch map quality parameters, especially in the use of cartographic methods. This paper could serve as a framework for such research.

Despite the extensive discussion on the educational potential of GIS and the changes made in the curricula in many countries, the implementation of GIS in classrooms has still been relatively slow. This is because of variables limiting the process of GIS implementation in lessons. Although research into the limits of GIS implementation has been carried out quite extensively, there is a need for knowledge systematisation in the field. Therefore, the presented systematic review of 34 empirical studies addresses this need and pays attention to the methodological approaches used to research the limits, the identified limits of GIS implementation, their categorisation, and any temporal trends in their occurrence. Altogether, the analysed studies identified 68 limits of GIS implementation in education using mainly quantitative methodology (especially the questionnaire), with utmost attention paid to teachers as participants. These limits then formed complex categorisation that distinguishes elementarily between the limits related to humans and resources. The most frequent and variable category of limits was teachers followed by technology, while both kept their positions in all periods. The systematisation of the research enables the formulation of implications for educational and geoinformatics practice and recommendations for future research.