Towards Ubiquitous Cartography (original) (raw)

Re-visiting fundamental principles of mobile cartography

2019

In this position paper I aim at outlining my personal view on the major research challenges regarding “User Experience Design for Mobile Cartography: Setting the Agenda”. The four key research challenges are integration, design, cognition, and evaluation. To address these research challenges, in addition to adopting new technologies for mobile mapping, more fundamental research is needed. Author

Four Persistent Research Questions in Cartography

Kartografija i geoinformacije, 2018

In recent decades, cartography has experienced a number of paradigm changes seen in refreshed research agendas and renewed education programs. Yet cartography remains the science, art and technology of making and using maps. This paper addresses four persistent research questions in cartography: 1 ) What is a map? 2) What are maps made for? 3) How are maps made? and 4) Who is making maps? Based on a retrospective analysis of cartographic advances since the introduction of the Internet in the early 1990s, the author gives an overview of evolution with regard to map types, map affordances, mapmaking workflows and the roles of mapmakers and map users. While some cartographic principles used since ancient times will continue to serve as anchor points for future development, ever-changing technological potentials and user requirements force us to maintain vitality with more and more innovative maps and map-based services. The author also appeals for a sustainable map creation ecosystem s...

The world in your pocket-towards a mobile cartography

Proceedings of the 20th International Cartographic …, 2001

The dawn of new technologies on the horizon, such as telecommunication, mobile internet, and handheld computing devices, offers new chances to the discipline of cartography. However, existing approaches to mobile cartography mostly have a commercial background and are rather technology centred. This quite narrow view ignores many relevant problems and does not fully profit from the new possibilities a mobile cartography could provide. Hence, we will sketch a general conceptual framework for cartography in a mobile environment. After the identification of specific user tasks and requests in a mobile environment suitable models of context and user's interests or preferences are highlighted. The process of adaptive and dynamic generation of visualisations for mobile users is illustrated and the key research fields involved are pointed out. An example demonstrates the benefits of dynamic visualisation of geoinformation on mobile devices. It should illustrate the basic ideas of mobile cartography and prove the flexibility of vector data (e.g. SVG) as an efficient and useful means of visualisation in a mobile context.

Cartography in a mobile internet age

Proceedings, The 20th International Cartographic …, 2001

Many now predict an era in which the display of cartographic data is not on a desktop computer, but on a mobile system located at the point of measurement or use in the field. This next cartographic revolution will be hastened by compact GPS receivers, cellular communications, portable web access, reduced size microcomputers, and next generation input and output devices for the use and display of digital maps. This research reviews field technologies for GIS and computer mapping, including those developments that will place the computer devices on the person of the user, the input devices into the hand-free use environment, and the display directly into the human vision field. A prototype ubiquitous field computing system will be demonstrated, with the intent of highlighting the extraordinary demands that will be placed upon the human-computer interface of the resultant wearable GIS. Particular concerns are communications, data bandwidth, Internet access and coverage, high-throughput Internet links, digital library database access, but above all the user interface of such a system. Some alternative designs for the mobile ubiquitous GIS user interface are presented, that include capabilities for in-view augmented cartographic reality. View options include feature frames, three dimensional glyphs, text feature annotation, monochrome feature filters, feature location identification and selection, Internet linkage, haloing, and pointer and navigation aids and mechanisms. Of particular concern in such ubiquitous systems will be data screening or access limitations, and the techniques of pixel blocking as a solution to security and privacy. Speculations on the future of cartography, assuming the existence of such devices and user interfaces, will be made including the negative consequences of the use of the systems. Clearly, liberation from the constraints of the desktop will have much to offer the future of mapping, above all a reorientation toward exploration and field data collection for mapping, If the negative consequences can be anticipated and controlled, then mobile GIS will constitute the next generation of geographic information technologies.

Creating geo-enabled hand-drawn maps: an experiment of user-generated mobile mapping

International Journal of Cartography, 2015

The current user-generated content (UGC) in mobile location-based services (LBS) is mainly bound to geographic points and represented based on web mappings. The authors have proposed a Human-Centered Mobile Mapping framework to integrate smartphones' positioning functions with various maps including hand-drawn maps. The framework is able to extend the current extent of UGC to include user-created maps, and to increase the diversity of maps in mobile environments. With the mobile application prototype Manpo, user experiments of creating geo-enabled hand-drawn maps have been conducted to college students who have little background knowledge of cartography. The results of the experiments have proved the functionality and usability of Manpo, but have also revealed that the users' skills and experiences can strongly influence the quality of the content, especially the accuracy of positioning. Typical mistakes in map drawings and deployments of points of interest (POIs) are analyzed in details. The experiments have prompted improvements of the positioning methods, and raised future research issues including effective guidelines, user interfaces and assisted georeference editing for nonprofessional users.

Modern Cartographic Forms of Expression: The Renaissance of Multimedia Cartography

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 2021

This article summarizes the Special Issue of “Multimedia Cartography”. We present three main research fields in which multimedia cartography and the study of the effectiveness of multimedia maps are currently taking place. In each of these fields, we describe how published research is embedded in the broader context of map design and user studies. The research refers to contemporary technological trends such as web HTML5 standards, virtual reality, eye tracking, or 3D printing. Efficiency, performance, and usability studies of multimedia maps were also included. The research published in this issue is interdisciplinary. They combine traditional mapping methods with new technologies. They are searching for new places for cartography in, e.g., the environment of computer games. They combine the design of the map with its perception by users.

Cartographic systems visualization in mobile devices: issues, approaches and example cases

Visualization of cartographic systems in mobile devices is a challenge due to the its own limitations to show all the relevant information that the user needs on the screen. Within this paper we review current state-of- the-art technological solutions to face this problem and we classify them in a novel typology. In addition, it is shown an example case of a developed system for a logistic company specialized in dangerous goods. The system is able to calculate optimal routes and communicate the drivers the best path in order to achieve a great management of the company resources

Towards Individualization of Mapmaking and

2012

While the widespread Internet access has been continuously narrowing the distinction between office life and home life, the flourishing wireless telecommunication is creating a growing mobile population in the open air. The mobility requires the shrinking size of computing and display devices, which in turn brings about new constraints on wireless retrieval, transmission, visualization and analysis of spatial data. Two years ago, our colleagues were vehemently talking about the seamless and scalable digital earth, today, the labels leading the hit-list have become "location-based services" and "digital earth moving". Without having time to take a breath, we find ourselves already in the middle of a new era of individualization of mapmaking and mobility of map use. Not surprisingly, the spectacular technical progresses have left behind many unsolved cartographic problems and a number of new research topics.

Interactive maps on mobile, location-based systems: design solutions and usability testing

Proc. 21st ICC. Durban, South …, 2003

This paper describes the interface conception for a mobile, location-based map application, and the user-centred design approach used to validate design principles. We suggests design guidelines for interactive maps that were used for prototypes for a mobile fair guide. Abstract and simplified visualizations were combined with interactive linking to textual information, especially hidden labels for map objects that can be displayed in tooltips. Usability test results show this to be a promising strategy, if the hidden labels are combined with support of use cases that include search for known objects.

Enriching Geographic Maps with Accessible Paths Derived from Implicit Mobile Device Data Collection

Enriching Urban Spaces with Ambient Computing, the Internet of Things, and Smart City Design, 2000

The work presented in this chapter delineates the longitudinal experience of deploying an urban computing system that enables citizens to share and interact with digital content about the urban environment and experiences of people with it. It is part of an emerging and novel aspect of urban computing that expands research beyond simple optimisations of city functions towards a social and cultural approach that seeks to orchestrate complex socio-technical ensembles. Offering Collective City Memory as a service to citizens and enabling them to interact with it via diverse novel interfaces has uncovered the implications for city life that the introduction of urban computing brings such as the redefinition of spatial and temporal proximity and the effects on the perception of city space, fostering of social interactions, contribution to shared resources and participation in collective efforts.