Digital maps of geographic areas are increasingly common in many types of
workplace, in education and in the public domain. Their interactivity and visual
features, and the complexity of geographic(al) information systems (GIS) which
create, edit and manipulate them, create special cognitive demands on the end-user
which are not present in traditional cartographic maps or in most human-computer
interaction (HCI). This thesis reviews cross-disciplinary literature regarding cognitive
aspects of viewing and interacting with digital maps.
Data from an observational study of GIS use, including real-time recordings of
normal workplace activities, was analysed using various approaches to examine the
interactive and visual aspects of people's work. The implications for cartographic,
psychological and HeI aspects of GIS are discussed, in the context of the actual tasks
people perform with them (rather than the computationally advanced analyses
assumed by most literature).
The second phase of the research examined the spatial knowledge attained and used
during this interaction. The relevance of specific concepts in cognitive psychology,
and of factors that create individual differences in cognition, are discussed in depth,
alongside work in environmental and educational psychology, cartography and
geography.
A controlled experiment examined the degree to which task characteristics induce a
different spatial model or reference frame when viewing a digital map. It was shown
that even novice users can switch between considering the map as an abstract
geometric display or as a geographical representation, without affecting performance.
However, tasks forcing subjects to focus entirely on the geometry rather than the
geography did affect performance in a surprise post-test photograph identification
task. Map users' mental model or reference frame is apparently affected by these task
constraints; this has implications for GIS design and practice as well as for
understanding spatial cognition The study also considered the role of expertise and
other individual difference factors, although conclusions were limited by sample size.
Further research issues are highlighted, particularly regarding the knowledge
structures and spatial language used in interpreting digital maps
