The Importance Of Map Reading

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In western society, map learn and map use “emerge early in the life of children” (Kulhavy and Stock, 1996). For example, six years old children can accomplish map reading tasks for navigating through the space (Kulhavy and Stock, 1996; Uttal, 2000). According to Petchenik (1977), map reading is “more than just the cumulation of a number of simple perceptual comparisons of symbol size or value”, it is a complex process where map readers acquire information and start to construct knowledge (MacEachren, 1991; Nyeger, 1991; Kulhavy and Stock, 1996; Elzakker, 2004). In this context, Olson (1976) has firstly defined basic tasks for the map reading process. Olson (1976) proposed a “hierarchical structure” in which map reading tasks could be divided,…show more content…
Within the level one people are concerned to compare the characteristics of individual symbols. In other hand, the level two involves the task of recognizing properties of symbol groups on the map. The level three “is that of using the map as a decisionmaking or content-knowledge-building device through integration of the symbols with other information”. Similarly, Board (1978) has proposed a set of tasks that individuals usually perform while reading maps. Board (1978) has indicated three types of map use purposes that triggers different types of map reading tasks: navigation, measurement, and visualization. Executing these different types of map use purposes demands different mental efforts and skills, because, in the first case, maps are used to “facilitated movement from one place to another”, and in the last two cases, map users are involved in “acquiring information on the geographical environment”. As maps are graphical tools (Arnheim, 1976) and read them depends on several motor and cognitive skills, the map reading tasks can vary in terms of motor and mental effort demanded (Olson, 1976; Board,…show more content…
Most of these “produsers” have often not received any cartographic training, even so they can produce geoinformation within crowdsourcing platforms (Goodchild, 2007; Budhathoki et al, 2008; Heipke, 2010; Haklay et al, 2008; Ooms et al 2015). Within this context, users are sharing, generating, trusting and commenting geoinformation (Goodchild, 2007; Budhathoki et al, 2008; Flanagin & Metzger, 2008). Furthermore, individuals collaborating with VGI platforms have several types of motivation (Coleman et al, 2009). These different motivations drive to a different set of tasks they accomplish within the platforms. However, the main difference between the traditional map use research and the crowdsourcing map use context is given by the possibility of individuals generate geoinformation. As a consequence, “listen to the map user” (Ooms et al, 2015) within a user-generated content perspective, such as VGI platforms, is somehow a research framework. Therefore, there is no such attempt on doing a primer discussion about the new map reading tasks associated with the purpose of creating geoinformation, such as individuals usually perform under a crowdsourcing map use

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