Considerations of Graphical Proximity and Geographical Nearness

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2003

Spatializations are computer visualizations in which nonspatial information is depicted spatially. Spatializations of large databases commonly use distance as a metaphor to depict semantic (nonspatial) similarities among data items. By analogy to the "first law of geography", which states that closer things tend to be more similar, we propose a "first law of cognitive geography," which states that people believe closer things are more similar. In this paper, we present two experiments that investigate the validity of the first law of cognitive geography as applied to the interpretation of "point-display spatializations." Point displays depict documents (or other information-bearing entities) as 2-or 3-dimensional collections of points. Our results largely support the first law of cognitive geography and enrich it by identifying different types of distance that may be metaphorically related to similarity. We also identify characteristics of point displays other than distance relationships that influence similarity judgments.

Theories of Mapping Practice and Cartographic Representation, 2011

At the start of the 1970s, it was intellectually fashionable amongst behavioural geographers to investigate the significance of cognitive maps, and their impacts on people's spatial behaviour. Downs and Stea's book was probably the most influential overview of the field and brought together papers from almost all of the leading exponents of this kind of research. We have excerpted Chapter 1, which explores the dimensions of cognitive mapping, distinguishing between cartographic images and the cognitive constructs that are the focus of their attention. This conceptual piece is informed by a communications model of information transmission and explores processes and defines concepts underpinning research. The authors define the concepts of perception, cognition, attitude and preference, before explaining the differences between what people need to know and what they actually know. Amongst other concepts they focus on differences between locational and attribute information, the role of incomplete, distorted, schematised, and augmented cognitive maps, and some of the behavioural reasons for the mismatch between theory and practice. They conclude by urging further experimental investigation of behavioural evidence of cognitive mapping.

2002

As GIScientists we know that "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things" (Tobler, 1970: 236). Unfortunately this law does not tell the spatially aware researcher how to conceptualize "nearness" or which proximity measure to utilize to quantify "relatedness". One of the main challenges in GIScience is not only to formalize people's often fuzzy distance notions for distinguishing near features from far ones, but also to find the appropriate transformation rules to model and depict actual and perceived relatedness between real world phenomena within GISystems.

International Journal of …, 1999

Honors Thesis, National University of Singapore, 2011

Environmental representations have typically been categorized into procedural descriptions and survey knowledge. Based on recent findings about allocentric and egocentric encoding of spatial relations, we hypothesized that survey knowledge could be further classified into surveyallocentric and survey-egocentric representations (depending on which encoding the person uses). Our study examined the distinction in survey representations using map drawing task. The second goal was to examine how this distinction in environmental representations relates to individual differences in allocentric and egocentric spatial abilities, using spatial visualization and spatial orientation computerized tasks. The third goal was to explore how these environmental representations differ in landmark knowledge, using landmark recognition and landmark directional tasks. The map drawings were reliably classified into procedural, survey-allocentric, and survey-egocentric representations, based on the encoding of spatial relations. Individuals who drew survey-egocentric maps tended to perform more accurately and faster on egocentric spatial orientation task than those who drew procedural maps. Significant differences were found in accuracy and reaction times on landmark tasks between different types of landmarks: no-choice versus active, non-cultural versus cultural, permanent versus temporary, and scenes versus individual landmarks. There were no significant differences in landmark recognition and directional tasks between individuals with different environmental representations.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2005

... In Proc. NordiCHI, 2004. 21. C. Zhou, D. Frankowski, P. Ludford, S. Shekhar, and L. Terveen. Discovering personal gazetteers: An interactive clustering approach. In Proc. ACMGIS, 2004. 22. C. Zhou, P. Ludford, D. Frankowski, and L. Terveen. ...

1979

Asymmetries in Distance Cognition, by W. Jefiey Bu~oughs and Edward K. Sadulla Since the application of Tolman's cognitive map metaphor [I81 to human spatial cognition, two general methods have been used to assess large-scale spatial knowledge. Both methods are based on the assumption that spatial *The authon are indebted to Professor Melvin Marcus and to Professor Leo 73x1 for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. W. Jefiey B u m g h s is Ph.D candickte in environmental psychology, and Edmd K. s a d a h is director, E n v i r o n m t d Psychohgy Progmm, Arizona state university.

International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 2008

We investigate the relationship of perceived distances to judged similarities between document points in various types of spatialized displays. Our findings suggest that the distance-similarity relationship is not as self-evident to viewers as is commonly assumed in the information visualization literature. We further investigate how participants interpret instructions to judge distances when those instructions do or do not specify the type of distance. We find that in all types of spatialization displays, there is no significant difference between default and direct judgements of distance; people clearly interpret default distance instructions to refer to direct (straight-line) distance. These findings provide direct evidence on the conditions under which people employ distance when assessing similarity between data objects in various types of spatialized views and, when they do, which type of distance. They also give insight into how people explore the similarity of geographic features depicted in cartographic maps or GIS displays.

Cities

This study aimed to increase understanding of sense of place by investigating how spatial navigation and place imageability may associate with it in urban neighborhoods. Questionnaires, protocol analysis, and cognitive sketch maps were used to examine these connections. Participants used more egocentric and allocentric strategies during cognitive map navigation when sense of place was stronger. Cognitive sketch maps revealed that experiencing a strong level of sense of place is associated with recalling more of its physical features, especially paths and landmarks. When sense of place is strong, individuals find it simpler to recall and select memorable places in their cognitive maps and to describe them verbally to others. Social scientists and urban planners may benefit from these results when they respond to human spatial needs while attempting to facilitate residents' sense of attachment to, identity toward, and compatibility with city spaces.

2015

The social and neurosciences are moving toward a conceptualization of the psychological construct of sense of place in relation with spatial cognition, place imageability, and meaning. To help advance progress, this dissertation proposes a conceptual framework of sense of place that includes variables of spatial navigational strategy (i.e., egocentric and allocentric) and place imageability using notions of edges, paths, landmarks, districts, nodes. Three studies using different methods tested the proposed framework. Study 1 used a questionnaire and an interview-based protocol analysis to examine whether navigational strategy associated with participants’ levels of sense of place for recalled urban neighbourhoods. Preliminary work investigating whether sense of place and spatial navigation varied with place imageability was also done using qualitative analyses. Participants used more egocentric and allocentric strategies during cognitive map navigation when sense of place was strong...