Spatial Relationship Analysis of Geographic Elements in Sketch Maps at the Meso and Micro Spatial Scales

Abstract

Sketch maps are an abstract and conceptual expression of humans’ cognition of geographic space. Humans perceive geographical space at different spatial scales. However, few researchers have considered the spatial relationships of geographic elements in sketch maps at multiple spatial scales. Considering the meso and micro spatial scales, this study analyses the accuracy of the spatial relationships depicted in 52 sketch maps of urban areas, including qualitative orientation, order, qualitative distance, and topological relationships. We utilized OpenStreetMap (OSM) to assess the accuracy of the four spatial relationship representations in the sketch maps. This study evaluates the reliability of spatial relationships in capturing the invariant spatial information of geographic elements in sketch maps. It helps to understand the differences in human cognition of multi-scale space.