Elevating Streets in Urban Topographic Maps Improves the Speed of Map-Reading (original) (raw)

A fast and accurate reading of maps is relevant for many human orientation, navigation, and wayfinding tasks. Autostereoscopic displays can visualize depth illusions in True-3D and allow map-makers to use the depth axis as an additional cartographic design parameter. This new design parameter has hardly been considered in empirical investigations in cartography. A previous study provided initial evidence that distribution of map information over different depth layers could bring advantages for the speed of map-reading. These results require further investigation. Research from cognitive psychology has demonstrated that the cognitive processing of map information could be enhanced by using linear features of the map graphics that subdivide the map into different sections (“spatial chunks”). These spatial chunks provide map readers an additional orientation pattern that supports information processing. Spatial judgements, for instance, can be made faster when spatial chunks are prese...