Communication about Space

We all do it: we all communicate about space and we do it with ease as one of our most basic natural abilities. Even animals do it-for example, bees as they dance to communicate distance, direction and the quality of a food source. Humans utilize a variety of senses and channels for communicating about space, among them the use of spoken and written language, gestures, sketches, or the gentle physical force when taking a person by the arm or leading in a dance. In addition, we have learned to interpret the language of experts communicating about space – such as in maps (cartography), posted signs (semiotics) or the affordance of designed spaces (architecture). Which brings us to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – advanced tools to analyze complex spatial and dynamic interrelations, and to display them in forms such as maps, graphs, tables and reports. Such results are an essential means of support for complex choices, as made by experts or by decision-makers studying the advice given by experts. However, I want to focus here on a relatively new group of GIS clientele – the broader public – and to examine how GIS communicates for everyday decisions. Everyday decisions Everyday or routine decisions are made based upon skills everybody has and no special expertise is required beyond common sense. Looking at everyday spatial decisions, people might seek support by asking questions such as " Where am I? " " Shall I go left? " " Where is the next café? " and " Is there a train connection in the afternoon? " Everyday decisions are to a high degree automated, which means they are made quickly with low cognitive effort. Furthermore, such questions are posed in specific contexts. For example, a car driver needs wayfinding instructions in a different form (and based on different data) to a pedestrian tourist or a business traveler. Services made to support everyday decisions must take this critical element into account, but we should also note there are fluent or smooth boundaries leading to more complex decisions and services. For example, trip planning has occurrences that might be considered everyday decisions (because everybody does it), but it has also occurrences that require expert skills (which is why travel agencies are in business). Specialized GIS designed to support spatial everyday decisions, and from the perspective of a specific user group, were once termed Small GIS (Frank 2000). …