Title: Perception, cognition and technology in the reading of digital cartography
Abstract: Summary Some problems related to the readability of originally analogical maps when trans- formed into digital copies and the relevant 'screen-views' are discussed with respect to the technological and social complexities of the issue involving at last the domi- nant question of the human perception and cognition in approaching the study of maps. The subject meets its modern justification in approaching the process of digi- talisation of maps as historical documents, which is now challenging task for all in- stitutions safeguarding cultural heritage. Criteria and conventions What criteria come into play when we read digital rendition of an analogical work of cartography (which in most cases is map drawn on paper)? The answer to this question brings into focus the full complexity of an issue that involves technology (the resources used in producing, distributing and employing the map), legal and administrative matters (the protection of intellectual copyright), cultural/political questions (how to define access and decide possible limitations to access) and finally the very processes of human percep- tion and cognition (how are the document and its contents perceived as source of infor- mation?). Let us start by looking at how work of cartography renders certain items of information regarding specific area of territory - its size, physical characteristics, etc. Look, for ex- ample, at the map of Italy in any atlas. Our ability to understand it rests in part upon rec- ognition of form that complies with learnt abstract model - that is, the well-known definition of Italy as a boot-shaped peninsula (Fig. 1). A series of graphical conventions (colour, line, symbol, etc.) then describe the contents of that outline in rather simple manner; the orientation is given in relation to the cardinal points of the compass; distance and area by scale; altitude by colour and/or contour lines, and so forth. In effect, there- fore, the perceptive and cognitive procedures that comes into play in reading the map make it possible for us to recognise the form before us and then go on to read it in detail. But - and this is fundamentally important point - the fact that such possibility is open to us rests largely on what Gombrich (1960) defined as process of 'trial and error', which here involves moving backwards and forwards from view of the whole to view of detailed section in order to establish the relations between the part and the whole and
Publication Year: 2006
Publication Date: 2006-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 3
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