Maps Telling Stories?

Mocnik, Franz-Benjamin; Fairbairn, David

doi:10.1080/00087041.2017.1304498

Cited by 35 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Thus, we found some evidence that route learning does not depend on the distant or uninformative map regions but indeed on the detail (and also likely on the landmarks, see below) in the close neighborhood of the to-be-learned route. At first glance, these results seem surprising, as there is no evidence of an advantage in information processing when participants are forced to focus on the essential map information [7]. Besides the possibility of methodological factors contributing to a null effect (like a small number of items in a condition) and the logical difficulties when deriving inverse assumptions, the results still indicate that it is possible to reduce the map display without further costs when the task is to recognize a route.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Obviously missing map elements could on the other hand also, as mentioned in the introduction, lead to an open-world assumption. Being aware of the incompleteness of the map could lead to a higher flexibility when representations of real-world objects in the map are inaccurate or unexpectedly missing [7]. Therefore, deliberately activating an open-world assumption via directly recognizable map reduction may be advantageous if the accuracy and completeness of map information cannot be guaranteed.…”

Section: Limitations and Proposed Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Today, maps can easily be extended with other valuable media, such as texts, audio, and video [4][5][6]. This helps to widen the number of map genres and to adapt the needs of a spatial story [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Assuming gaps or errors in the map opens the possibility of more flexible use and might aid the map user when telling a story or being confronted with inaccurate map information. Despite of the assumed usefulness of reduced maps, potential positive or negative consequences have only been examined in part so far [7,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reduction of Map Information Regulates Visual Attention without Affecting Route Recognition Performance

Keil

Mocnik

Edler

et al. 2018

IJGI

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Map-based navigation is a diverse task that stands in contradiction to the goal of completeness of web mapping services. As each navigation task is different, it also requires and can dispense with different map information to support effective and efficient wayfinding. Task-oriented reduction of the elements displayed in a map may therefore support navigation. In order to investigate effects of map reduction on route recognition and visual attention towards specific map elements, we created maps in which areas offside an inserted route were displayed as transparent. In a route memory experiment, where participants had to memorize routes and match them to routes displayed in following stimuli, these maps were compared to unmodified maps. Eye movement analyses revealed that in the reduced maps, areas offside the route were fixated less often. Route recognition performance was not affected by the map reduction. Our results indicate that task-oriented map reduction may direct visual attention towards relevant map elements at no cost for route recognition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Limitations and Proposed Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Reduction of Map Information Regulates Visual Attention without Affecting Route Recognition Performance

Keil

Mocnik

Edler

et al. 2018

IJGI

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“…The cartographic representation of idiosyncratically experienced geographies, for instance, still poses challenges. Also, stories are, in many cases, hard to convey through classical maps (Mocnik and Fairbairn, 2018). The same applies to places and corresponding cartographic representations, which often are characterized by subjective and idiosyncratic aspects (Westerholt et al, 2018;Westerholt et al, 2020).…”

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confidence: 99%

Tracing Mental Models in Cartographic Datasets – The Case of OpenStreetMap

Mocnik

2020

Abstr. Int. Cartogr. Assoc.

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Abstract. Geographical features can be represented in different ways. Buildings, for instance, can be represented as areal features defined by polygonal lines or as point features in a map. While the type of representation chosen to represent a building strongly depends on the scale of the map, it seems common to represent points of interests (POIs) as point features. More complex examples exist. For example, the way buildings that are part of a mosque are conceptualized and thus labelled in a map strongly depends on how familiar we are with the Arabic culture. The same applies to the often perceived separation between public and private space in Arabic cultures, which can have an impact on geometrical aspects of map representations. Such coexisting representations of geographical features can, in particular, be observed in collaboratively created data sources (Mocnik et al., 2019), such as OpenStreetMap (OSM) data and maps generated from these.Competing representations of geographical features can reduce the readability of a map, but they can also open up opportunities to draw conclusions about the underlaying mental model (Mayer et al., 2020). When the people involved in the map creation process have different mental representations of a geographical feature, the representations they create often differ. This, in turn, impacts the readability, which refers to the process of transferring a map representation into a mental one, i.e., the process opposed to map creation, as there is often no clear and unambiguous correspondence between the symbols in the map and the represented geographical features (Scheider et al., 2009; Mocnik et al., 2018) Over time, these conceptualizations can mutually influence and lead to a convergence (Mocnik et al., 2017). Despite this, the coexistence of different cartographic representations makes possible to draw conclusions about the way a feature has been conceptualized. The symbols in the map encode, accordingly, besides the intended information about the geographical features, also information about the mental models involved (Mayer et al., 2020).The effect of mental models on the map representation often goes unnoticed because there is, in many cases, only very subtle variation between the map representations of one type of geographical features. If such variation would be much larger, it would even be impossible to interpret the symbols of a map. While the examples discussed above can be traced very well in individual cases, it is yet unclear how systematic the influence of mental models is. A systematic examination of such examples can investigate the influence statistically and at a larger scale. Further research might show the extent to which conclusions can practically be drawn about the conceptualization of geographical features and corresponding mental representations.The ability to trace mental models through maps is a suitable tool for exploring the conceptualization of geographies. For instance, future research might investigate in detail the impact culture has on the way we conceptualize. Likewise, it might investigate how people experience urban landscapes in different ways. By using maps and the data behind them as a source of information for mental models, maps gain a new purpose while the original one is put into the background. While such thinking is common for sketch maps, it also also applies, to a lesser degree, to Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), which can become a valuable data source for ethnologists, human geographers, psychologists, and cognitive scientists.In a similar way, a better understanding of how mental models relate to cartographic representations can help to improve the latter. The cartographic representation of idiosyncratically experienced geographies, for instance, still poses challenges. Also, stories are, in many cases, hard to convey through classical maps (Mocnik and Fairbairn, 2018). The same applies to places and corresponding cartographic representations, which often are characterized by subjective and idiosyncratic aspects (Westerholt et al., 2018; Westerholt et al., 2020). The empirical investigation of the effect mental models have on cartographic representations can be expected to also provide insights into the reverse process, thus leading to cartographic techniques that make it possible to convey idiosyncratic experience and, eventually, also emotions.

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