User Perceptions of Bi-Symbol Maps

Abstract

Cartographers continue to be concerned with differences that arise between what a designer intends a map to communicate and what users perceive the map to convey. Symbol choice and presentation, in relationship to the process by which users apprehend maps, appear to be the core issues in this concern. This paper examines designer-user disparity within the context of perceptual and task-related responses to two-symbol map depictions of a single theme. It assesses users' perceptions of differences among versions of a bi-symbol map with regard to their usefulness for point estimating. To elicit users' perceptions, the study employed three series of this bi-symbol map, each created by varying the presentation of one or the other or both symbols. The study used a multi-dimensional scaling design to examine the participants' perceptions for their universality and for what they may say about this type of map, symbol choice and symbol presentation. The results from such an examination, while not surprising, prove to have implications for all of these issues.