Mixing Methods and Triangulating Results to Study the Influence of Panning on Map Users’ Attentive Behaviour

Abstract

The general aim of this paper is to evaluate the influence of panning on the map user’s (attentive) behaviour, using a mixed methods approach. A user study was conducted in which participants – with an expertise in cartography – had to execute four tasks in Google Maps, using only a panning operation. During the first two tasks, participants had to follow a predefined route; during the latter two tasks they had to locate Belgium on a less detailed scale level. A strong task-related interactive behaviour was revealed by the participants’ mouse action and eye movements. Furthermore, the attentive behaviour was influenced by the type of view (map or satellite) and whether it occurs while performing the panning operation. The georeferenced eye movements were imported in a GIS for spatial analysis. Based on these spatial queries, we discovered that the duration of the fixations was associated by their location on the map.

Keywords:

• interactive cartography
• geographic information systems
• attentive behaviour
• eye tracking

ORCiD

Kristien Ooms http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4921-7553

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kristien Ooms

Kristien Ooms is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Geography at Ghent University (Belgium), where she obtained her PhD in 2012. The goal of her research is to improve the quality (effectiveness) of screen maps towards the end users. Her research focuses on geovisualization and cognition, in combination with UCD and user studies. For the term 2015–2019, she is the chair of the Commission on Use, User and Usability Issues of the International Cartographic Association. She also obtained an MSc in Geography and in Applied Informatics at Ghent University.