Cognitive Transformation of Information from Urban Geographic Fields to Mental Maps

Abstract

Research into mental maps by the investigators and others is reviewed with the intention of formulating an empirically derived model of the cognitive transformation of information from urban geographic fields to map representation in a medium-term (daily-weekly) time frame. It appears that subject variables (length of residence, travel experience, personality, short-term memory), touring variables (characteristic travel mode), environmental variables (complexity of urban form), and map variables (familiarity with and attitude toward conventional maps, type of mental map called for by investigator)-all contribute to levels of map performance as measured by quantitative content and/or veridicality analysis. The model proposed lists a number of operations such as motile and temporal synchronization, rotation, scaling, generalization, projection, symbolization and verbalization, which transform sensori-motor input into maps through coding, recoding, schema formation, and retrieval mechanisms.