Luciene Stamato Delazari

User studies in cartography : opportunities for empirical research on interactive maps and visualizations

ABSTRACT The possibility of digital interactivity requires us to reenvision the map reader as the map user, and to address the perceptual, cognitive, cultural, and practical considerations that influence the user’s experience with interactive maps and visualizations. In this article, we present an agenda for empirical research on this user and the interactive designs he or she employs. The research agenda is a result of a multi-stage discussion among international scholars facilitated by the International Cartographic Association that included an early round of position papers and two subsequent workshops to narrow into pressing themes and important research opportunities. The focus of our discussion is epistemological and reflects the wide interdisciplinary influences on user studies in cartography. The opportunities are presented as imperatives that cross basic research and user-centered design studies, and identify practical impediments to empirical research, emerging interdisciplinary recommendations to improve user studies, and key research needs specific to the study of interactive maps and visualizations.

What do People prefer and What is more effective for Maps: a Decision making Test

Since the roles of intuition and affection in map use and the relationship between these processes and the effectiveness in activities supported by maps have not been completely measured, this paper intends to bring a contribution to the discussion about the relationship between subjective preference and objective performance. A series of experiments with graduation students was carried out, asking students what they would prefer as a desirable type of map to use for an analytical decision-making process and then their performance of this process was measured. To ensure the validity of the experiment, maps used for this study were designed using a social background as their theme, with analysts being asked to decide where to invest public funds. The same experiment was conducted first using a subset of paper maps (1st stage) and then using interactive web maps (2nd stage). Three types of subsets of thematic maps were assigned randomly among the respondents. Statistical tests were applied and the correlation between preference and performance in this experiment was measured. Results for the 1st step show that there is no significant variation due to the technique used in the performance tests, and for this specific subject, there is insufficient evidence to guarantee that users preference among map techniques can lead or is related to better performance. Also it was noted that performance decreases for a reasoning related task, and maybe this could be related to the need for a deeper analysis of data evolution through time.

Discovering Order in Chaos: Using a Heuristic Ontology to Derive Spatio-Temporal Sequences for Cadastral Data

A heuristic ontology is an ontology that describes concepts using heuristics (‘rules of thumb’ or guidelines) rather than axioms as in a classical ontology. The heuristics can be used to establish whether a given instance is a member of the concept defined by the heuristics in a data-driven manner. The approach may be particularly useful if data is poor, irregular or incomplete. A heuristic ontology was used to determine whether given collections of land parcels are valid spatio-temporal sequences and thus automatically derive sequence data that would otherwise have to be maintained manually, achieving levels of precision of 94% and recall of 67%.

Testing Subjective Preference and Map Use Performance: Use of Web Maps for Decision Making in the Public Health Sector

Maps support many planning activities, from general purpose tasks to in-depth spatial analyses. However, preferences and intuitions, which occur in all human interactions, are often disregarded in use and user research in cartography, and there is evidences that analysis of these factors is desirable. It is commonly believed that there is a positive correlation between subjective preference and objective performance, and there is agreement about the main role of media in map comprehension. To investigate this topic, quantitative experiments were performed, based on a real situation in which students need to make decisions about public health care management in a city. Users were asked about their preferences with respect to map type, and performances in carrying out tasks were measured. The results indicate that for simple visual comparison tasks, the proposed Web map framework was adequate. However, this was not the case for reasoning tasks, where weak performances were registered. Also, user preference among visual variables seemed to be unrelated to better performance, and since performances were poor, the important role played by interface usability and attractiveness in map use is verified. Les cartes appuient de nombreuses activités de planification, depuis les tâches générales jusqu’aux analyses spatiales approfondies. Souvent, la recherche sur l’utilisation et les utilisateurs menée en cartographie ne tient toutefois pas compte des préférences et des intuitions qui existent dans tous les échanges humains et des éléments de preuve indiquent qu’il est souhaitable d’analyser ces facteurs. On croit couramment qu’il y a un lien positif entre la préférence subjective et le rendement objectif et l’on s’entend sur le rôle de premier plan que jouent les médias dans la compréhension des cartes. Pour analyser ce sujet, on a procédé à des expériences quantitatives basées sur des situations de la vie réelle au cours desquelles des étudiants doivent prendre des décisions sur la gestion des soins de santé publics dans une ville. On a demandé aux utilisateurs d’indiquer leurs préférences quant au type de carte et l’on a mesuré leur rendement dans l’exécution de tâches. Les résultats indiquent que le cadre cartographique Web proposé suffit pour des comparaisons visuelles simples, mais non pour des tâches de raisonnement à l’égard desquelles les utilisateurs ont produit un rendement médiocre. Il a aussi semblé n’y avoir aucun lien entre la préférence des utilisateurs à l’égard des variables visuelles et un meilleur rendement. Comme le rendement était médiocre, les résultats vérifient le rôle important que joue le caractère utilisable et attrayant de l’interface dans l’utilisation des cartes.

Gestalt aspects for differentiating the representation of landmarks in virtual navigation

The application of nonimmersive virtual reality (VR) to the creation of rich cartographic representations in 3D is a current research area in cartography. However, the cartographic knowledge needed to build these representations is lacking. The consequences of this include misconceptions in map design that can inhibit or even impair understanding of the representation. A common task in cartographic VR is virtual navigation supported by 3D topographic maps. This geographical task gathers different knowledge schema, based on the selection of specific features for use as landmarks. In VR, there is a need for adaptation of cartographic representations to improve cartographic communication. The strategy adopted in this research uses Gestalt aspects to direct the users selective attention to features that will act as landmarks. To evaluate this proposition, we compare sketch maps from 3D and conventional 2D topographic maps made by 43 volunteers and identify which features were used as landmarks and how they were drawn in the sketch maps. The number of landmarks identified by the user, their topology and orientation, and how the symbols were drawn highlights the success of this proposal for 3D topographic maps for virtual navigation.

A localização geográfica como recurso organizacional: utilização de sistemas especialistas para subsidiar a tomada de decisão locacional do setor bancário

Abstract The location of a business site is a material resource and, along with its financial and technological resources, may provide a company with a distinguished position in comparison with its competitors. Deciding on the best location of a business site is a major task and requires several studies This paper proposes the integration of a Geographic Information System and an Expert System (SES) to support decision-making regarding the choice of the best location to open a branch of bank so that location constitutes a competition material resource for the organization. In this paper, we develop a system called the Realty Prospecting System for the Banking Sector (RPS), which allows these variables to be detailed in terms of value, rarity and difficulty to imitate and substitute. Assuming that the resource based view (RBV) emphasizes the strategic choice by the recovery of important actions such as identifying, developing and deploying key resources for the management of the organization to maximize returns, an analysis of the prospected properties in terms of competitive advantage was also conducted, concluding that the RBV is the element that contributes to the SPI. It increases ability to analyze the system beyond the question of location, i.e., the RBV allows prospected properties to be examined in terms of competitive advantage.

AUTOMAÇÃO DOS OPERADORES DE AGREGAÇÃO E DESLOCAMENTO PARA GENERALIZAÇÃO CARTOGRÁFICA NA REPRESENTAÇÃO DE REDES SOCIAIS

A generalizacao cartografica sempre teve um carater subjetivo, o que implica que mapas de mesma escala derivados de um mesmo mapa fonte, por diferentes cartografos, resultem em diferentes representacoes. Alem disso, com a evolucao da informatica surgiu a necessidade da padronizacao deste processo para que os produtos cartograficos gerados fossem sempre os mesmos. Nesta pesquisa aborda-se a aplicacao da generalizacao na representacao de redes sociais de assistencia social. Os nos desta rede sao os atores sociais – individuos, grupos ou instituicoes – que atuam em uma regiao e as ligacoes existentes entre os mesmos sao os arcos, sendo que estas ligacoes nao sao fisicas. O foco do estudo e a automacao dos operadores geometricos de agregacao e deslocamento agindo sobre as feicoes pontuais, que sao os atores sociais. Quando ha sobreposicao entre os atores sociais, os que possuem mesma classificacao sao agregados gerando um novo simbolo. Ja o deslocamento e utilizado para resolver a sobreposicao entre atores sociais de classes diferentes. Para tanto, foi desenvolvido um programa para a execucao da generalizacao cujos resultados sao apresentados neste artigo.

Determinação de áreas de abrangência de agência bancária pelo diagrama de Voronoi com obstáculos

Os diagramas de Voronoi permitem a subdivisao das regioes em um conjunto de areas de abrangencia, a fim de estabelecer relacoes de proximidades. Varios estudos foram realizados para a determinacao de areas de abrangencia com o uso dos diagramas de Voronoi. Entretanto, ainda e necessario aprofundar as investigacoes com o desenvolvimento de novas proposicoes, com vistas a determinacao de areas de abrangencia que se aproximem da realidade topografica das cidades. Para tal, e necessario que sejam considerados os obstaculos, ou seja, barreiras lineares e fechadas. De acordo com a literatura consultada, nao existem pesquisas que tenham avancado nesse sentido, o que enfatiza a sua importância, sendo este tema desenvolvido nessa pesquisa descrita no presente artigo. Assim, foi realizada a implementacao computacional dos diagramas de Voronoi ordinario e por potencia (power Voronoi) com a consideracao dos obstaculos, bem como realizadas analises espaciais a partir dos mesmos, estabelecendo-se relacoes de proximidade com os estabelecimentos dos bancos concorrentes. A partir dos resultados verificou-se que a inclusao das barreiras modificou sensivelmente as fronteiras dos diagramas de Voronoi e que, com o metodo proposto, evitam-se conclusoes incorretas pelos usuarios. Isso se explica pelo fato de que as areas de abrangencia determinadas com a consideracao das barreiras lineares e fechadas incorporam-se a realidade topografica das cidades.

Colour Hue and Texture Evaluation for 3D Symbolization of Indoor Environments Using RGB-D Data

In this work an evaluation procedure of the use of colour hue and texture for 3D symbolization of indoor environments using RGB-D data is presented. The main characteristics of the proposed method involve RGB-D cameras to collect colour and depth data and the evaluation of the visual variables colour hue and texture combined with visual aspects such as lighting and camera configuration for the symbolization of 3D indoor environments. High quality coloured point clouds of indoor environments are obtained with the Kinect sensor and then registered and processed in order to create 3D models. These sets of point clouds can be detected, recognized and classified under one of the three following main categories: ceiling, wall or floor. After classification is done, the resulting point clouds are properly treated as 3D triangular meshes in the MeshLab software. These meshes are then filtered to form complete surfaces which are then refined before being considered for visual variable application. We evaluated the...In this work an evaluation procedure of the use of colour hue and texture for 3D symbolization of indoor environments using RGB-D data is presented. The main characteristics of the proposed method involve RGB-D cameras to collect colour and depth data and the evaluation of the visual variables colour hue and texture combined with visual aspects such as lighting and camera configuration for the symbolization of 3D indoor environments. High quality coloured point clouds of indoor environments are obtained with the Kinect sensor and then registered and processed in order to create 3D models. These sets of point clouds can be detected, recognized and classified under one of the three following main categories: ceiling, wall or floor. After classification is done, the resulting point clouds are properly treated as 3D triangular meshes in the MeshLab software. These meshes are then filtered to form complete surfaces which are then refined before being considered for visual variable application. We evaluated the proposed method on several indoor environments to show that it efficiently combines the colour and depth data obtained from RGB-D cameras with different parameters defined for the visual variables colour hue and texture for 3D symbolization of indoor environments.

Augmented Reality and Maps: New Possibilities for Engaging with Geographic Data

Among the systems that aim to help users to perform map reading tasks, augmented reality (AR) is one of the most promising. However, the impact of this new technology in terms of acceptance, motivation and improvement of the learning process has still not been sufficiently explored. This study aims to assess the contribution of an AR system for map reading and for improving users’ understanding of geographic data. Landscape and census data from New Zealand were used to evaluate the performance of an AR system in an experiment involving 60 participants. Differences in the participants’ backgrounds were reflected in the way they completed the task for both printed maps and the AR system and 90% of the participants preferred to work with the AR system rather than with traditional printed maps. Users that had previous experience of the geographical dataset provided performed the task better using only the printed maps, while those without that experience performed better with the AR system.