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Evaluating the Effectiveness of Illuminated and...

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Illuminated and Shadowed Contour Lines

James Eynard
Bernhard Jenny
Cartography and Geovisualization Group
Oregon State University
#nacis2015

Nathaniel V. KELSO

October 16, 2015
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  1. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Illuminated and Shadowed Contour Lines James

    Eynard and Bernhard Jenny Cartography and Geovisualization Group Oregon State University NACIS | 2015 | Minneapolis, MN
  2. 1845 Michaelis, E.H., 1845. Passage du Splügen et de la

    Via Mala (map, 1:125 000) Inset in: Über die Darstellung des Hochgebirges in topographischen Karten. Berlin: Schropp.
  3. Swiss Alpine Club, 1865. Karte der Gebirgsgruppe zwischen Lukmanier &

    La Greina (map 1:50 000, contour interval 30 meters, map by Rudolf Leuzinger) 1865
  4. Randegger, J., 188-. Wandkarte des Kantons Thurgau (map, 1:50 000).

    Winterthur: Topographische Anstalt von Wurster, Randegger & Cie. 1880s
  5. Pauliny, J., 1895. Mémoire über eine neue Situationspläne- und Landkarten-Darstellungsmethode.

    Streffleurs Österreichische Militärische Zeitschrift, 4 (1), 66–87. 1891
  6. Tanaka, K., 1950. The relief contour method of representing topography

    on maps. Geographical Review, 40 (3), 444–456. 1950 – Tanaka Contours
  7. Gilman, C.R., 1973. Photomechanical experiments in automated cartography. Journal of

    Research of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1 (2), 223–228. 1973
  8. Kennelly, P. and Kimerling, A. J. (2001). ‘Modifications of Tanaka’s

    illuminated contour method’, Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 28, pp. 111–123. 2001 – Modified Tanaka Contour Lines
  9. Imhof, E. (1965). Kartographische Geländedarstellung. Walter de Gruyter. Imhof, E.

    (2007). Cartographic relief presentation. ESRI, Inc..
  10. Manual and Semi-automated Techniques •  Time consuming, inconsistent results • 

    Calligraphy-style pens •  Digital –  Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop –  Scripts
  11. Previous User Studies Several studies on contour map interpretation, but…

    a lack of studies on illuminated contour lines “no empirical evaluation of the method exists nor any empirically derived guidelines on appropriate maximum widths for the variable contours” (MacEachren 2004, p. 147) Wheate, R.D., 1979. Commensurability versus imageability: a re-assessment of the role played by shaded relief on topographic maps. Thesis (Master’s). Queen’s University. Morita, T., 2001. Visual characteristics of Tanaka’s relief representation method through observation of eye movement. In: International Cartographic Commission on Theoretical Cartography.
  12. User Study Hypothesis Certain features of topography can be interpreted

    more quickly and accurately by map-readers with illuminated and shadowed contours maps than with conventional contour maps.
  13. User Study •  Conventional contour lines •  Shadowed contour lines

    •  Illuminated contour lines •  Shaded relief Within Groups Mechanical Turk -> Qualtrics, 397 participants
  14. User Study Sections Tutorial Relative Height Questions 10 second time

    limit Contour labels 10 x 4 map types, randomized Maximum Height Questions 20 second time limit No contour labels 12 locations, randomized map types 3-D representation and demographics
  15. User Study Results •  Relative Height Question •  Accuracy • 

    Timing •  Maximum Height Question •  Accuracy •  Timing •  3-D representation and demographics
  16. User Study Results Relative Height Question – Accuracy Map$type$pairs$ χ2$

    Sig$ ! ! ! Illuminated!–!shadowed! 4.6750! yes! Illuminated!–!conventional! 10.0831! yes! Illuminated!–!shaded!relief! 15.2345! yes! Shadowed!–!conventional! 1.0151! no! Shadowed!–!shaded!relief! 3.0127! no! Shaded!relief!–!conventional! 0.5214! no! ! ! ! ! McNemar’s test results, χ2-crit = 3.8415 89.4%& 84.8%& 81.5%& 83.1%& 50%& 60%& 70%& 80%& 90%& 100%& Illuminated& Shadowed& Shaded& Relief& Conven?onal& Percent'Correct'
  17. User Study Results Relative Height Question – Timing Map$type$ Mean$timing$

    (seconds)$ Std$dev$ timing$ ! ! ! Illuminated! 3.0! 1.3! Shadowed! 3.4! 1.5! Conventional! 3.6! 1.6! Shaded!relief! 2.5! 1.1! ! ! ! ! Wilcoxon signed-ranks test – Significance for all map pairs at p < 0.01 Map$type$pairs$ Effect$r$ Effect$size$sig$ ! ! ! Illuminated!–!shadowed! 0.23! low! Illuminated!–!conventional! 0.30! med! Illuminated!–!shaded!relief! 0.34! med! Shadowed!–!conventional! 0.12! low! Shadowed!–!shaded!relief! 0.46! med! Shaded!relief!–!conventional! 0.49! med! ! ! ! !
  18. User Study Results Maximum Height Question – Accuracy Map$type$ Mean$accuracy$

    Std$dev$ ! ! ! Illuminated,!unlabeled! 79.5%! 15.7%! Shadowed,!unlabeled! 75.3%! 20.8%! Conventional,!labeled! 79.4%! 18.1%! Shaded!relief! 69.6%! 19.8%! ! ! ! ! Wilcoxon signed-ranks test and Cohen’s r effect size results Map$type$pairs$ P,value$ Sig$ Effect$r$ Effect$size$sig$ ! ! ! ! ! Illuminated!–!shadowed! <!0.01! yes! 0.01! no! Illuminated!–!conventional! 0.741! no! X! X! Illuminated!–!relief! <!0.01! yes! 0.38! med! Shadowed!–!conventional! <!0.01! yes! 0.13! low! Shadowed!–!shaded!relief! <!0.01! yes! 0.27! low! Shaded!relief!–!conventional! <!0.01! yes! 0.39! med! ! ! ! ! ! !
  19. User Study Results Maximum Height Question – Timing Map$type$ Mean$timing$

    (seconds)$ Std$dev$ timing$ ! ! ! Illuminated,!unlabeled! 6.2! 3.6! Shadowed,!unlabeled! 6.1! 3.7! Conventional,!labeled! 6.3! 3.3! Shaded!relief! 7.9! 3.8! ! ! ! !
  20. For each map type, participants were asked if they agree

    with the following statement: This map shows variations in elevation well and produces an appearance of the third dimension. 43.1%& 25.3%& 8.9%& 7.1%& 43.1%& 57.5%& 45.7%& 30.8%& 5.6%& 8.2%& 20.2%& 19.3%& 6.6%& 7.4%& 22.4%& 35.4%& 0%& 10%& 20%& 30%& 40%& 50%& 60%& 70%& 80%& 90%& 100%& Relief& Illuminated& Shadowed& Conven@onal& Strongly&Agree& Agree& Neither& Disagree& Strongly&Disagree&
  21. User Study Results Demographics No significance •  Age •  Gender

    •  Education level •  Self-evaluated topographic map reading ability
  22. Conclusions Illuminated contour lines – quicker and more accurate Shadowed

    contour lines – quicker and more accurate to a lesser extent for some map reading tasks Mechanical Turk – unexpected results
  23. Limitations and Potential Use •  Neutral background •  Bathymetry maps

    •  Other statistical surfaces •  Variations and future user studies •  Subtle color and line width changes •  More detailed maps •  Various scales
  24. Acknowledgements Oregon State University Tom Patterson Dr. Richard Oliver AAG

    Cartography Specialty Group Bojan Šavrič, Charles Preppernau, Brooke Marston, and Lawrence Sim
  25. Pyramid Shader – free and open source software for creating

    illuminated and shadowed contour lines •  Shaded relief •  Plan oblique relief •  Hypsometric colors •  Local hypsometric colors •  Terrain generalization •  Bivariate colors •  Slope •  Aspect