Graphically supported evaluation of mapping techniques used in presenting spatial accessibility

ABSTRACT

Given the rising availability of alternative ways of spatial data mapping, there is a growing need to study their usability. An important aspect here is the diversity of the cartographic visualizations that are used to draw conclusions about the usability of various mapping techniques. In our study we evaluated the usability of six various mapping techniques used in presenting spatial accessibility, taking into consideration four components: effectiveness and efficiency (objective criteria) and graphical attractiveness and user-perceived effectiveness (subjective criteria). Using Internet questionnaires, we conducted a graphical perception experiment with respondents performing tasks on a hypothetical monocentric road network model displayed using mapping techniques of spatial accessibility, differing in the applied parameters of graphical and non-graphical factors influencing effectiveness and efficiency. The results showed that non-graphical factors had a greater influence than the graphical factors. In total usability comparison the three-dimensional (3D) point technique was ranked the highest, while the worst result was achieved by the 3D area technique. The proposed graphical form of study results made it possible to compare the influence of various effectiveness factors, to analyze mapping techniques in terms of considered criteria and finally to present their total usability using a chart inspired by Uhorczak’s typogram.

KEYWORDS:

• Spatial accessibility
• usability evaluation
• usability charts
• objective and subjective evaluation criteria
• graphical and non-graphical factors

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable and helpful comments and suggestions, which have helped us to make this a better paper.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The paper is the result of research on cartographic visualization of spatiotemporal accessibility carried out within statutory research in the Department of Cartography and Geomatics, Adam Mickiewicz University, in Poland.