ICC Programming

Thematic Cartography and Cognition

6707.3 - Exploring visual cognition efficiency in map handling ability based on the eye movement experiment

Presenting Author(s)

• 

  Shulei Zheng, PhD

  Eye Tracking， Map Cognition
  Surveying and Mapping

Co-Presenter(s)

• YC

  Yufen Chen

  Surveying and mapping
• CY

  Chunlei Yang

  Zhengzhou Surveying and mapping
• SW

  Shuang Wang

  Zhengzhou Institute of Surveying and Mapping
• CW

  Chenshun Wang

  Surveying and mapping

Moderator(s)

• JP

  Jiří Pánek

  Palacký University Olomouc

Personalized map cognition is a frontier area in recent cartographic research. And eye movement tracking as a novel and efficient monitor method has attracted much attention from cartographers, for its advantages in real-time qualitative visualization but also in quantitative analysis. However, the research on visual information-searching ability influenced by personalized age, gender, occupation, hobbies and other characteristics of the user remains to be elucidated. This paper focuses on the relations between visual cognition efficiency and map handling experience, by recording eye movement sequence in task scheduling in visualizing analysis and eye movement metrics such as average Fixation Duration data in statistical analysis. And to do this, a two-factor eye movement experiment aiming on object searching task was designed and carried out using the Tobii X120 eye-tracking equipment with 58 participants. The results indicated that there were significant difference of visual cognition efficiency between the map expert and the novice, which was monitored mainly by the spatial visual fixation sequence distribution, the eye saccade distance and the object searching accuracy. Furthermore, the user’s map cognitive pattern was discussed farther in cognitive psychology theories such as whether it was influenced by top-down and bottom-up modes synchronously or by map stimulant merely. We hope that the eye-tracking experiment could provide more valuable qualitative and quantitative information in GIS design, map evaluation and map handle training, as well as other similar cartographic research areas in the future.