Doctoral Dissertation Research in Geography and Regional Science

地理信息系统（GIS）的发展， 与分析工具并行的是， 允许具有不同技能和背景的人操纵和 解释计算机空间数据。 兴建更多 然而，有效的通用用户界面受到了 事实上，人们构建和处理地理关系， 不同的方式 语言影响人们感知的方式 空间关系，但很少有人关注 来确定语言差异如何影响 人们使用GIS。 本博士论文研究项目将 研究说英语和说西班牙语的人 人们描述、构造和管理空间关系。 口头 处理常见空间关系的问卷将 管理的人在西班牙，厄瓜多尔和美国; 这些国家的人也将试验不同类型的 GIS用户界面，以确定不同的格式是否更多 对讲不同语言的人有效。 该项目将为不同的GIS用户提供一个有价值的测试 不同语言环境中的接口格式，从而有助于 确定语言差异的程度必须 在开发“方便用户”的地理信息系统时考虑到这一点。 研究 将增强对语言如何帮助 构建个人对空间关系的理解， 将为一个有前途的年轻学者提供一个极好的机会， 继续培养独立研究能力。

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.