Document Open Access Logo

Considerations of Graphical Proximity and Geographical Nearness

Author Francis Harvey

PDF
Thumbnail PDF

File

LIPIcs.GISCIENCE.2018.4.pdf
  • Filesize: 0.63 MB
  • 18 pages

Document Identifiers

Author Details

Francis Harvey
  • Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography and University Leipzig, Schongauerstr. 9, 04275 Leipzig, Germany

Cite As Get BibTex

Francis Harvey. Considerations of Graphical Proximity and Geographical Nearness. In 10th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2018). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 114, pp. 4:1-4:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2018) https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.GISCIENCE.2018.4

Abstract

"Near things are more similar than more distant things" states Tobler's first law of geography. This seems obvious and is part to much cognitive research into the perception of the environment. The statement's validity for assessments of geographical nearness purely from map symbols has yet to be ascertained. This paper considers this issue through a theoretical framework grounded in Gestalt concepts, behavioral ecological psychology and information psychology. It sets out to consider how influential experience or training may be on the association of graphical proximity with geographical nearness. A pilot study presents some initial findings. The findings regarding the influence of experience or training are ambiguous, but point to the rapid acquisition of affordances in the survey instruments as another factor for future research.

Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Human-centered computing → Empirical studies in visualization
Keywords
  • proximity
  • nearness
  • perception
  • cognition

Metrics

  • Access Statistics
  • Total Accesses (updated on a weekly basis)
    0
    PDF Downloads
    0
    Metadata Views

References

  1. Jacques Bertin. Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, networks, maps. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI, 1983. Google Scholar
  2. Geert-Jan Boudewijnse. Gestalt theory and bauhaus-a correspondence. Gestalt Theory, 34(1):81-98, 2012. Google Scholar
  3. Jerry Brotton. A history of the world in twelve maps. Penguin UK, 2012. Google Scholar
  4. Helen Couclelis and Jon Gottsegen. What maps mean to people: Denotation, connotation, and geographic visualization in land-use debates. In S. Hirtle and A. U. Frank, editors, Spatial Information Theory. A Theoretical Basis for GIS, pages 151-162. Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1997. Google Scholar
  5. Matthieu M de Wit, John van der Kamp, and Rob Withagen. Visual illusions and direct perception: Elaborating on gibson’s insights. New Ideas in Psychology, 36:1-9, 2015. Google Scholar
  6. Allen Downey. Think Bayes. O'Reilly, Sebastopol, CA, 2013. Google Scholar
  7. Paul Feyerabend. Against Method. Verso, London, 1997. Google Scholar
  8. James J Gibson. The perception of the visual world. oughton Mifflin, 1950. Google Scholar
  9. James J Gibson. The ecological approach to visual perception: classic edition. Psychology Press, 2014. Google Scholar
  10. Francis Harvey. A Primer of GIS. Fundamental Geographic and Cartographic Concepts. Guilford, New York, 2016. Google Scholar
  11. ICA, editor. Cartographic futures on a digital earth, Ottawa, Canada, 1999. ICA,. Google Scholar
  12. Daniel Kahneman. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Penguin, New York City, 2011. Google Scholar
  13. Menno-Jan Kraak. The web, maps, and society. In Bruce Gittings, editor, Integrated Information Infrastructures with GI Technology. Innovations in GIS, pages 67-78. Taylor and Francis, London, 1999. Google Scholar
  14. Werner Kuhn. Core concepts of spatial information for transdisciplinary research. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 26(12):2267-2276, 2012. Google Scholar
  15. Dan Montello and Scott Freundschuh. Cognition of geographic information. In Robert McMaster and Lynn Usery, editors, A research agenda for geographic information science, pages 61-91. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2005. Google Scholar
  16. Donald A. Norman. Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the Machine. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1993. Google Scholar
  17. Sugihara T. T., Qiu F and and von der Heydt R. Figure-ground mechanisms provide structure for selective attention. Nature Neuroscience, 10:1492-1499, 2007. Google Scholar
  18. W. Tobler. Preface. In Francis Harvey, editor, Are there fundamental principles in Geographic Information Science? CreateSpace/Amazon Kindle, Seattle, 2012. Google Scholar
  19. W. R. Tobler. A transformational view of cartography. The American Cartographer, 6(2):101-106, 1979. Google Scholar
  20. Waldo Tobler. On the first law of geography: A reply. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 94(2):304-310, 2004. Google Scholar
  21. Anne Treisman. Preattentive processing in vision. In Human and machine vision II, pages 313-334. Elsevier, 1986. Google Scholar
  22. Anne Treisman and Stephen Gormican. Feature analysis in early vision: evidence from search asymmetries. Psychological review, 95(1):15, 1988. Google Scholar
  23. Barbara Tversky. Distortions in memory for maps. Cognitive psychology, 13(3):407-433, 1981. Google Scholar
  24. Amos Twersky and Daniel Kahneman. Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. science, 185(4157):1124-1131, 1974. Google Scholar
  25. Johan Wagemans, James H Elder, Michael Kubovy, Stephen E Palmer, Mary A Peterson, Manish Singh, and Rüdiger von der Heydt. A century of gestalt psychology in visual perception i. perceptual grouping and figure-ground organization. Psychol Bull Psychological bulletin, 138(6):1172-1217, 2012. Google Scholar
  26. Colin Ware. Visual thinking: For design. Morgan Kaufmann, New York, 2010. Google Scholar
  27. Gerald Westheimer. Gestalt theory reconfigured: Max wertheimer’s anticipation of recent developments in visual neuroscience. Perception, 28(1):5-15, 1999. Google Scholar
Questions / Remarks / Feedback
X

Feedback for Dagstuhl Publishing


Thanks for your feedback!

Feedback submitted

Could not send message

Please try again later or send an E-mail
© 2023-2024 Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH About DROPS Imprint Privacy Contact