Abstract
Scale has been a defining criterion of mapmaking for centuries. However, this criterion is fundamentally questioned by highly immersive virtual reality (VR) systems able to represent geographic environments at a high level of detail and, thus, providing the user with a feeling of being present in VR space. In this paper, we will use the concept of scale as a vehicle for discussing some of the main differences between immersive VR and non-immersive geovisualization products. Based on a short review of diverging meanings of scale we will propose possible approaches to the issue of both spatial and temporal scale in immersive VR. Our considerations shall encourage a more detailed treatment of the specific characteristics of immersive geovisualization to facilitate deeper conceptual integration of immersive and non-immersive visualization in the realm of cartography.
Highlights
From a technical perspective, generalization, symbolization and scale have been defining criteria of mapmaking for centuries (Robinson et al 1995)
In order to distinguish between Highly immersive virtual environments (HIVE) in general and those HIVE that represent geographic environments in a realistic manner, we propose to label the latter as geovisualization immersive virtual environments
The idea of geographic scale has been already applied to geovisualization immersive virtual environments (GeoIVE), for instance on spatial knowledge acquisition from different user viewpoints in virtual reality (VR), but little attention has been given to the topic of cartographic scale in virtual space
Summary
Generalization, symbolization and scale have been defining criteria of mapmaking for centuries (Robinson et al 1995). Tschirschwitz et al 2019) since geospatial data can be represented in VR at a level of detail that provides the user with a vivid illusion of being there in a virtually mediated environment. The representational power of GeoIVE challenges both cartographic praxis and theory: Practical issues arise, for example, from limited VR-capabilities of geographic information systems (GIS) so that middleware (e.g. game engine software) is required to make GIS data available on a HMD. We will limit our considerations on the question of cartographic scale in immersive virtual environments To approach this matter from different theoretical viewpoints, several arguments shall be discussed subsequently. The following section shall help to clarify our understanding of scale within this text
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