The Effect of Web Maps on Spatial Cognition

Abstract

During the past few decades, map usage has changed, due to the digitalizing of the world. Less and less people use paper-based maps, since smart devices make digital interactive maps easily accessible for everyone. However, these digital map applications require different cognitive processes during navigation than their analogue counterparts. The GPS orients the user without requiring the observation of the environment and the abstract understanding of one’s relative location. Moreover, web maps simplify the navigation process into a geometry task, due to their minimalistic design, since these map surfaces do not show the landmarks our brain organically looks for during the navigation process. This also hinders a route’s inclusion in one’s cognitive map, which might become a problem in the future, since contemporary research on the development of web cartography highly relies on the cognitive map of the user and the exploration of such in new interactive designs.