University of Twente Student Theses
An Empiric Evaluation of the Affordances of Panorama Maps and Planimetric Maps in the Context of Alpine Ski Areas: The Example of SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser - Brixental
Janssen, Jenny (2020) An Empiric Evaluation of the Affordances of Panorama Maps and Planimetric Maps in the Context of Alpine Ski Areas: The Example of SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser - Brixental.
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| Abstract: | Many people across the world enjoy alpine winter sports. Since the advent of modern winter sports, in particular alpine skiing, ski areas have been depicted cartographically for the purposes of marketing and to provide an overview of the slopes and lift infrastructures available. The panorama map, considered the de facto standard for alpine winter sport areas, is ubiquitous throughout most ski areas and used to entice prospective visitors and to accompany them once on the slopes. Personal experience with panoramic ski maps and previous studies focusing on their usability including Balzarini et al. (2015) and Balzarini and Murat (2016) have led the author to explore alternative ways of depicting ski areas. The result is a planimetric ski map created by the author which, alongside a panorama ski map of the same geographical area, is the subject of the research for this thesis. This thesis aims to provide a better understanding of the affordances of the two map styles within the context of wayfinding, spatial cognition, emotional response and user needs by evaluating two depictions of one ski area and comparing how each performs in a user evaluation. The core of the primary research for this thesis consists of an online-survey through which two random sample groups evaluate either the panorama map or planimetric map of the SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser - Brixental, one of the largest ski areas in Austria. The questions and tasks contained in the survey correspond to the research objectives and research questions pertaining to the affordances of both maps within the context of assisting with wayfinding tasks, imparting geographic comprehension and eliciting emotional reaction and questions related to user needs. The results from the user evaluation do not suggest that one map is more successful overall than the other. Instead, the user evaluation shows that each map presents users with unique advantages and challenges when used to assist in completing navigation and orientation tasks, highlighting potential areas for improvement as well as features of one map that perform well and which the other could seek to incorporate. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | ITC: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation |
| Programme: | Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation MSc (75014) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/85288 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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