Map Use Teaching And Experience

Although maps are often thought to be easily understood, for many people they are not. Research into how best to make maps more useful to the user has taken different forms including applied psychology and linguistics. While some researchers focus on the map maker, others, including the present author, concentrate on the map user. This study applies a linguistics paradigm to cartographic communication by examining how the teaching of 'geographic lexemes' and 'years of geographic instruction' can enhance map use performance. The study includes an experiment using, as participants, geography and psychology students at Wilfred Laurier University, Ontario. The test consisted of questions reflecting the three levels of map use tasks proposed first by Olson (1979). It was found that experience in geography and formal instruction result in improved performance for higher level tasks of map interpretation

Cartography · Concept map · Focus (optics · Geography · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Mind map · Test (biology · Geographic Information Systems Studies · Geography Education and Pedagogy · Lexicography and Language Studies · Psychology

• Whither goes the “maps” course? Maintaining map-use concepts, skills, and appreciation in GIS&T curricula

  Jeffrey D Hamerlinck•Cartography and Geographic…•2015

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