Analyzing eye movement patterns to improve map design (original) (raw)
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A review on eye movement analysis in map reading process: the status of the last decade
Geodesy and Cartography, 2019
Eye tracking constitutes a valuable tool for the examination of human visual behavior since it provides objective measurements related to the performed visual strategies during the observation of any type of visual stimuli. Over the last decade, eye movement analysis contributed substantially to the better understanding of how visual attention processes work in different types of maps. Considering the clear need for the examination of map user reaction during the observation of realistic cartographic products (i.e. static maps, animated maps, interactive and multimedia maps), a critical amount of experimental studies were performed in order to study different aspects related to map reading process by the cartographic community. The foundation of these studies is based on theories and models that have been developed in similar research domains (i.e. psychology, neuroscience etc.), while the research outcomes that produced over these years can be used directly for the design of more e...
Interpreting maps through the eyes of expert and novice users
International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 2012
The experiments described in this article combine response time measurements and eye movement data to gain insight into the users' cognitive processes while working with dynamic and interactive maps. Experts and novices participated in a user study with a ‘between user’ design. Twenty screen maps were presented in a random order to each participant, on which he had to execute a visual search. The combined information of the button actions and eye tracker reveals that both user groups showed a similar pattern in the time intervals needed to locate the subsequent names. From this pattern, information about the users' cognitive load could be derived: use of working memory, learning effect and so on. Moreover, the response times also showed that experts were significantly faster in finding the names in the map image. This is further explained by the eye movement metrics: experts had significantly shorter fixations and more fixations per second meaning that they could interpret a larger part of the map in the same amount of time. As a consequence, they could locate objects in the map image more efficiently and thus faster.
Analysing the spatial dimension of eye movement data using a visual analytic approach
Expert Systems with Applications, 2012
Conventional analyses on eye movement data only take into account eye movement metrics, such as the number or the duration of fixations and length of the scanpaths, on which statistical analysis is performed for detecting significant differences. However, the spatial dimension in the eye movements is neglected, which is an essential element when investigating the design of maps. The study described in this paper uses a visual analytics software package, the Visual Analytics Toolkit, to analyze the eye movement data. Selection, simplification and aggregation functions are applied to filter out meaningful subsets of the data to be able to recognize structures in the movement data. Visualising and analysing these patterns provides essential insights in the user's search strategies while working on a(n interactive) map.
An eye-tracking study examining information search in transit maps
Information Design Journal, 2021
This study investigates the legibility of China’s high-speed railway map through eye-tracking measurement. The information searching process was identified by conducting: (1) Scoping stage – a user performance test and interview to inform the design of the eye-tracking study; (2) In-depth stage – an eye-tracking study. A number of visual design problems with the map have been identified. This research explores user-centered design map solutions and provides detailed design guidance for transit maps. It also demonstrates that eye-tracking is an effective method of evaluating the design quality of a transit map as it can identify design limitations and user needs.
Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 2018
We combine eye tracking and a questionnaire-based approach to explore the influence of label density on the perceived visual complexity of maps. We design two experiments in which participants are asked to search for the names of point features on maps and to rate the map complexity and legibility for different label densities. Specifically, we conduct a highly controlled experiment in which all the map variables except the label density are held constant (the controlled experiment). Then, we conduct a second experiment following the same protocol but using real maps as visual stimuli (the real-map experiment) to verify if the results of the controlled experiment were applicable to real maps. The results of both experiments indicate a significantly positive correlation between perceived visual complexity and label density and between the response time in visual search tasks and label density. Surprisingly, we observe a significant inverse correlation between the label density and two eye movement parameters (fixation duration and fixation frequency) between the two experiments. We discuss how the variables of real maps might have affected these eye movement parameters and why the results of the two experiments are inconsistent. Our findings suggest that eye tracking parameters are not reliable indicators of map complexity. These empirical results can be helpful to future map design and map complexity investigation.
Where do people look at during multi-scale map tasks?
AGILE: GIScience series, 2023
In order to design better pan-scalar maps, i.e. interactive, zoomable, multi-scale maps, we need to understand how they are perceived, understood, processed, manipulated by the users. This paper reports an experiment that uses an eye-tracker to analyse the gaze behaviour of users zooming and panning into a pan-scalar map. The gaze data from the experiment shows how people look at landmarks to locate the new map view after a zoom. We also identified different types of behaviours during a zoom when people stare at the mouse cursor, or during a pan where the gaze follows a landmark while the map translates.
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 2018
In this article, we use eye-tracking methods to analyze the differences in spatial ability between geographers and non-geographers regarding topographic maps, as reflected in the following three aspects: map-based spatial localization, map-based spatial orientation, and map-based spatial visualization. We recruited 32 students from Beijing Normal University (BNU) and divided them into groups of geographers and non-geographers based on their major. In terms of their spatial localization ability, geographers had shorter response times, higher fixation frequencies, and fewer saccades than non-geographers, and the differences were significant. For their spatial orientation ability, compared to non-geographers, geographers had significantly lower response times, lower fixation counts and fewer saccades as well as significantly higher fixation frequencies. In terms of their spatial visualization ability, geographers’ response times were significantly shorter than those of non-geographers,...
The use of simple graphs and cliques for analysis of cartographic eye-tracking data
Usability testing with the use of eye-tracking technology is now emerging. Measuring point of gaze is employed in different fields of research and helps to solve real world problems. One of these areas is cartography. In addition to traditional methods of analyses of eye-tracking data, as attention maps and gaze plots are, a more sophisticated method exists – scanpath comparison. Many different approaches to scanpath comparison exist. One of the most frequently used is String Edit Distance, where the gaze trajectories are replaced by the sequences of visited Areas of Interest. In cartography, these Areas of Interest could be marked around specific parts of maps – map composition elements. We have developed an online tool called ScanGraph which output is visualized as a simple graph, and similar groups of sequences are displayed as cliques of this graph. ScanGraph uses modified Levenshtein distance and Needleman-Wunsch algorithms for calculating the similarities between sequences of visited Areas of Interest. Cliques in the graph are sought with the use of the exhaustive algorithm. ScanGraph functionality is presented in the example of cartographic study dealing with uncertainty in maps. Stimuli in the study contained several visualization methods of uncertainty and eye-tracking experiment with 40 respondents was performed. With the use of ScanGraph, groups of participants with similar strategy were identified.
Can experts interpret a map’s content more efficiently
This paper describes the statistical comparison of the results from an experiment with a 'between user'-design. The first group of participants consists out of novices whereas the second group consists out of experts which have experience in map use and have had training in cartography. The same stimuli (twenty screen maps) are presented in a random order to the participants who have to locate a number of labels on the map image. The participants are asked to indicate when they located a name by a button action, resulting in a time measurement. Furthermore, the participant's eye movements are registered during the whole test. The combined information reveals a same trend in the time intervals needed to locate the subsequent labels in both user groups. However, the experts are significantly faster in locating the names on the map (P ≤ 0.010). The recorded eye movements further confirm and explain this finding: the expert's fixations are significantly shorter (P ≤ 0.001) and can consequently have more fixations per second (P ≤ 0.001). This means that an expert can interpret the map content more efficiently and can thus search a larger part of the map in the same amount of time.