TY - JOUR

T1 - Evaluating the effectiveness of different cartographic design variants for influencing route choice

AU - Fuest, Stefan

AU - Grüner, Susanne

AU - Vollrath, Mark

AU - Sester, Monika

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)?[227198829/GRK1931]. The authors would like to thank the reviewers, whose comments and hints have made an essential contribution to finalizing this paper.

PY - 2021/1/6

Y1 - 2021/1/6

N2 - This paper addresses the suitability of different cartographic design variants for visually communicating recommended routes. We performed a user study, investigating the potential of six different design variants (color hue, distortion, length distortion, size, spacing, and symbols) for influencing route choice using cartographic visualization methods while recommending a longer, but less congested route. The visualizations for all design variants have been prepared in three different levels of intensity of modification (weak, medium, and strong). Although the input data (traffic density) is the same for all representation methods, variations are each visualized using different cartographic design principles. Our results showed that in general, for the majority of routing scenarios, the participants’ route choice has been significantly influenced toward choosing the recommended route–indicating that the modification of route visualizations does actually lead to a different route choice behavior. Results further revealed that for most variants, willingness to choose the recommended route increases with higher intensity of modification. While some of the design variants like symbols or length distortion have been found effective for recommending routes at all levels of intensity, others like size and spacing have not been found suitable. A comparison between route choices and estimated route characteristics suggested a close relationship between willingness to choose the recommended route and the characteristics participants associate with the representation. In particular, route visualizations that create an impression of faster, more convenient, or more fluent travel experience are more likely to influence route choice behavior.

AB - This paper addresses the suitability of different cartographic design variants for visually communicating recommended routes. We performed a user study, investigating the potential of six different design variants (color hue, distortion, length distortion, size, spacing, and symbols) for influencing route choice using cartographic visualization methods while recommending a longer, but less congested route. The visualizations for all design variants have been prepared in three different levels of intensity of modification (weak, medium, and strong). Although the input data (traffic density) is the same for all representation methods, variations are each visualized using different cartographic design principles. Our results showed that in general, for the majority of routing scenarios, the participants’ route choice has been significantly influenced toward choosing the recommended route–indicating that the modification of route visualizations does actually lead to a different route choice behavior. Results further revealed that for most variants, willingness to choose the recommended route increases with higher intensity of modification. While some of the design variants like symbols or length distortion have been found effective for recommending routes at all levels of intensity, others like size and spacing have not been found suitable. A comparison between route choices and estimated route characteristics suggested a close relationship between willingness to choose the recommended route and the characteristics participants associate with the representation. In particular, route visualizations that create an impression of faster, more convenient, or more fluent travel experience are more likely to influence route choice behavior.

KW - Cartographic design

KW - cognitive perception

KW - route choice behavior

KW - usability

KW - visual communication

KW - visual variables

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099266343&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/15230406.2020.1855251

DO - 10.1080/15230406.2020.1855251

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85099266343

VL - 48

SP - 169

EP - 185

JO - Cartography and Geographic Information Science

JF - Cartography and Geographic Information Science

SN - 1523-0406

IS - 2

ER -