Metric and temporal relationships in collaborative map drawings

Abstract

While a number of studies have distinguished spatial and temporal memorization at individual level, none seem to have examined these two memorization modes in collaborative map drawing. After an initial review of the distinctions between spatial and temporal memorization at individual level, and a study of inhibition in collaborative memorization, we present several analyses carried out on 24 collaborative drawings from an urban spatial exploration. We compare metric and temporal measurements on these drawings to identify possible relationships between metric and temporal approaches, depending on whether group members proceeded individually or collectively in the urban exploration prior to the collaborative drawing phase.- Based on 6 landmarks common to all drawings, an initial approach to metric and temporal measurements is carried out by comparing the distances obtained from the graphs created on the drawings, with the temporal measurements deduced from the video recordings. While the metric measures correlate well with the physical space (Google), they neither enable us to observe significant relationships between metric and temporal distances, nor to discriminate sufficiently between the groups.- A second approach has therefore been taken, this time comparing the distances obtained from the starting point of urban exploration with landmarks’ order of appearance in the videos. In this case, the correlations obtained between metric distances and landmarks’ order of appearance prove to be significant for the group that interacted collectively in the urban space, but not for the groups that explored individually. Nevertheless, the group that repeated the collective exploration a month later showed relative independence from metric distances, in favor of a more global representation of the environment.