Searching Maps

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Recent decades have seen considerable progress in geographic information processing, particularly the application of computer methods to mapping. Less attention and fewer resources have been devoted to the final part of the cartographic communication process, the transformation of information from map to map readers. Theories that explain how humans visually process spatial information can lead to future geographical information systems that not only display maps, but also perform visual processing of information such as searches, identifications, comparisons, classifications and generalizations. This research project seeks to examine the cognitive processes that underlie visual search by map readers, and it will model components of those human search processes through computer simulations based on neural net principles. A series of experiments will be conducted wherein subjects perform search tasks using maps as stimuli. These experiments will document the search behavior of human map readers and uncover the cognitive processes that were the basis of their search behavior. Experimental objects will be constructed using color, shape, size, and orientation. This will allow for testing of the hypothesis that the spatial distribution of objects on a map affects a person's ability to suppress information that is not critical in reading the map. Symbols on maps attempt to accurately reflect selected information about the environment, and they are constructed to present information in an aesthetically pleasing way. Research on how people read maps will ultimately assist cartographers to construct more efficient maps and enhance the communication process. Cognitive experiments are important because they can extend theory developed with laboratory stimuli to a level that is closer to real world environments. This theory can then be the basis of visual processing capabilities in more intelligent geographical information systems.