Doctoral Dissertation Research in Geography and Regional Science

地理信息系统（gis）作为分析工具的发展与创建媒体的尝试并行，使具有不同技能和背景的人能够操纵和解释基于计算机的空间数据。然而，由于人们以不同的方式构建和处理地理关系，更有效的通用用户界面的构建受到了抑制。语言影响着人们感知空间关系的方式，但学者们很少关注语言差异如何影响人们使用地理信息系统的方式。这个博士论文研究项目将考察讲英语和讲西班牙语的人描述、构建和管理空间关系的不同方式。将向西班牙、厄瓜多尔和美国的人员提供一份关于共同空间关系的口头调查表；这些国家的人还将试验不同类型的地理信息系统用户界面，以确定不同的格式是否对讲不同语言的人更有效。这个项目将对不同语言环境下的不同地理信息系统用户界面格式进行有价值的测试，从而有助于确定在开发“用户友好的”地理信息系统时必须适应语言差异的程度。这项研究将加强对语言如何帮助构建个人对空间关系的理解的理解，并将为有前途的年轻学者提供继续发展独立研究技能的绝佳机会。

The development of geographic information systems (GISs) as analytic tools has been parallelled by attempts to create media that allow people with varied skills and backgrounds to manipulate and interpret computer-based spatial data. The construction of more effective general user interfaces has been inhibited, however, by the fact that people structure and deal with geographic relationships in different ways. Language influences the ways in which people perceive spatial relationships, but little attention has been given by scholars to determining how linguistic differences affect the ways in which people use GISs. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine different ways in which English-speaking and Spanish-speaking persons describe, structure, and manage spatial relationships. An oral questionnaire dealing with common spatial relationships will be administered to persons in Spain, Ecuador, and the United States; persons in those nations also will experiment with different types of GIS user interfaces to determine if different formats are more effective for person speaking different languages. This project will provide a valuable test of different GIS user interface formats in different linguistic settings, thereby helping to identify the degree to which linguistic differences must be accommodated in the development of "user-friendly" GISs. The study will enhance understandings of the ways in which language helps structure individual understandings of spatial relationships, and it will provide an excellent opportunity for a promising young scholar to continue to develop independent research skills.