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GPS and road map navigation: the case for a spatial framework for semantic information

Published: 26 May 2010 Publication History

Abstract

Urban environments require cognitive abilities focused on both spatial overview and detailed understanding of uses and places. These abilities are distinct but overlap and reinforce each other. Our work quantitatively and qualitatively measures the effects on a user's overall understanding of the environment after navigating with either a GPS or a road map in a previously unknown neighborhood. Experimental recall of spatial and semantic information indicates that using a road map enables subjects to demonstrate a significantly better spatial understanding, identify semantic elements more often using common terms, place semantic elements in spatial locations with greater accuracy and recall semantic elements in tighter clusters than when using a GPS. We conclude that a spatial understanding is a necessary framework for organizing semantic information that is useful for inferred tasks.

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  • (2021)Evaluating schematic route maps in wayfinding tasks for in-car navigationCartography and Geographic Information Science10.1080/15230406.2021.1943531(1-21)Online publication date: 9-Aug-2021
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  • (2013)The Map EffectAnnals of the Association of American Geographers10.1080/00045608.2013.846172104:1(96-113)Online publication date: 20-Nov-2013
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  1. GPS and road map navigation: the case for a spatial framework for semantic information

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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    AVI '10: Proceedings of the International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces
    May 2010
    427 pages
    ISBN:9781450300766
    DOI:10.1145/1842993
    • Editor:
    • Giuseppe Santucci
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Published: 26 May 2010

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    Author Tags

    1. navigation
    2. semantic information
    3. spatial information

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    View all
    • (2021)Evaluating schematic route maps in wayfinding tasks for in-car navigationCartography and Geographic Information Science10.1080/15230406.2021.1943531(1-21)Online publication date: 9-Aug-2021
    • (2019)The Image of the Digital City: Revisiting Lynch’s Principles of Urban LegibilityJournal of the American Planning Association10.1080/01944363.2018.152471684:3-4(280-283)Online publication date: 28-Jan-2019
    • (2013)The Map EffectAnnals of the Association of American Geographers10.1080/00045608.2013.846172104:1(96-113)Online publication date: 20-Nov-2013
    • (2012)From Place to NonPlace: A Case Study of Social Media and Contemporary Food TrucksJournal of Urban Design10.1080/13574809.2012.70636217:4(511-531)Online publication date: Nov-2012

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