In recent years, the focus of cartographic research has shifted from the cartographic
communication paradigm to the scientific visualization paradigm. With this, there has been a
resurgence of cognitive research that is invaluable in guiding the design and evaluation of
effective cartographic visualization tools. The design of new tools that allow effective visual
exploration of spatial data and data quality information in a resource management setting is
critical if decision-makers and policy setters are to make accurate and confident decisions that
will have a positive long-term impact on the environment.
The research presented in this dissertation integrates the results of previous research in
spatial cognition, visualization of spatial information and on-line map use in order to explore the
design, development and experimental testing of four interactive visualization tools that can be
used to simultaneously explore spatial data and data quality. Two are traditional online tools
(side-by-side and sequenced maps) and two are newly developed tools (an interactive "merger"
bivariate map and a hybrid o f the merger map and the hypermap).
The key research question is: Are interactive visualization tools, such as interactive
bivariate maps and hypermaps, more effective for communicating spatial information than less
interactive tools such as sequenced maps? A methodology was developed in which subjects used
the visualization tools to explore a forest species composition and associated data quality map in
order to perform a range of map-use tasks. Tasks focused on an imaginary land-use conflict for a
small region of mixed boreal forest in Northern Alberta. Subject responses in terms of
performance (accuracy and confidence) and preference are recorded and analyzed. Results show
that theory-based, well-designed interactive tools facilitate improved performance across all
tasks, but there is an optimal matching between specific tasks and tools. The results are
generalized into practical guidelines for software developers. The use of confidence as a measure
of map-use effectiveness is verified. In this experimental setting, individual differences (in terms
of preference, ability, gender etc.) did not significantly affect performance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/11088 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Antle, Alissa N. |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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