Beyond ‘Point B’: Small maps and spatial cognition

Julie Dillemuth

Geography Department

UC Santa Barbara

Date: Friday, June 1, 2007
Place: Buchanan 1930
Time: 2:00 pm — 3:00 pm


Abstract:

Small, digital maps used for navigation are growing in availability and popularity, especially in personal navigation aids that guide you from a point A to B with turn-by-turn directions. The tradeoff of having the “world in your pocket”, on a pocket-sized display, is the loss of a fundamental strength of maps: showing the overall configuration of spatial features in an environment. In this talk I will discuss the implications for human spatial cognition, namely the question that drives my dissertation research: how does a small viewable extent affect map use and spatial knowledge acquisition? To put this question in context, I’ll present examples of maps from currently available personal navigation systems.

JULIE DILLEMUTH is a 4th year PhD candidate in the Geography Department at UCSB, advised by Keith C. Clarke. Her primary research interest is cognitive geography, in particular spatial cognition with respect to navigation and wayfinding. She was an Interactive Digital Multimedia IGERT Fellow from 2003-2005 and is currently an NSF Graduate Research Fellow.