Assessing Visual Variables of Cartographic Text Design
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Assessing visual variables of cartographic text design Rasha DEEB I Copyright © Rasha DEEB, Department of Geography, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University 2015. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The research reported in this dissertation was conducted at the CartoGIS Research Unit, Department of Geography, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University. Cover design: Wim VAN ROY, Ninar AL-BARRI, Rasha DEEB Assessing visual variables of cartographic text design II Faculty of Science Department of Geography Assessing visual variables of cartographic text design Dissertation submitted in accordance with the requirement for the degree of doctor of science: Geography Het beoordelen van visuele variabelen in cartografisch tekstontwerp Proefschrift aangeboden tot het behalen van de graad van Doctor in de Wetenschappen: Geografie Rasha Deeb III Supervisors Prof. dr. Philippe De Maeyer Department of Geography, Ghent University Prof. dr. Veerle Van Eetvelde Department of Geography, Ghent University Dr. Kristien Ooms Department of Geography, Ghent University Members of the Reading Committee Prof. dr.ir Temenoujka Bandrova Laboratory on Cartography ,University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Sofia Dr. Corné van Elzakker Department of Geo-Information Processing, International Institute for Geo- Information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente Prof. dr. Nico Van de Weghe Department of Geography, Ghent University Members of the Examination Committee Prof. dr. Ben Derudder (Chairman) Department of Geography, Ghent University Prof. dr. Necla Ulugtekin Department of Geomatics Engineering, Istanbul technical University Assessing visual variables of cartographic text design IV Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................... V List of Figures ................................................................................................................................... XI List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. XV List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... XVII List of Accordance ......................................................................................................................... XIX Acknowledgement ......................................................................................................................... XXI 1 .............................................................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Overview ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1.1 Visual variable definition, development, and limitations ............................................... 2 1.1.2 Principles of visual variables’ use ................................................................................... 7 1.1.3 Cartographic text design in focus .................................................................................... 9 1.1.4 Measuring a good label design ...................................................................................... 12 1.2 Rationale and synopsis .......................................................................................................... 14 1.2.1 Research objectives and questions ................................................................................ 14 1.2.2 Outlines of the dissertation ........................................................................................... 17 1.2.3 Out of scope .................................................................................................................. 21 1.3 Reference .............................................................................................................................. 22 2 ............................................................................................................................................................ 27 Cartographic Text Preference, Gender and Expertise Variation ........................................................... 27 Preface .............................................................................................................................................. 27 2.1 Background and Objectives .................................................................................................. 28 2.2 The Methodology .................................................................................................................. 31 2.2.1 Participants .................................................................................................................... 31 2.2.2 Task, stimuli and data ................................................................................................... 31 2.3 Results and Discussion ......................................................................................................... 33 2.3.1 Measurement of preference and typographic quality for all users ................................ 33 2.3.1.1 Size ............................................................................................................................ 33 2.3.1.2 Shape ......................................................................................................................... 34 2.3.1.3 Orientation ................................................................................................................ 35 2.3.1.4 Texture ...................................................................................................................... 36 2.3.2 Experience and gender influence .................................................................................. 37 2.3.2.1 Experts versus novices .............................................................................................. 37 2.3.2.2 Females versus males ................................................................................................ 37 V 2.4 Conclusions and Future perspectives .................................................................................... 39 2.5 References ............................................................................................................................. 41 3 ............................................................................................................................................................ 43 Toward a Deeper Understanding of Cartographic Text Visualisation: Assessment of User Preferences and Colour Influence ............................................................................................................................. 43 Preface .............................................................................................................................................. 43 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 44 3.2 Method .................................................................................................................................. 46 3.2.1 Participants .................................................................................................................... 46 3.2.2 Stimuli ........................................................................................................................... 46 3.2.3 Map design .................................................................................................................... 47 3.2.4 Task ............................................................................................................................... 48 3.3 Results ................................................................................................................................... 48 3.3.1 Labels associated with areal data .................................................................................. 48 3.3.1.1 Size of the labels ....................................................................................................... 48 3.3.1.2 Shape of the labels .................................................................................................... 51 3.3.1.3 Texture of the labels .................................................................................................. 52 3.3.1.4 Orientation of the label. ............................................................................................ 53 3.3.2 Labels associated with point data .................................................................................. 54 3.3.2.1 Size and shape variations .......................................................................................... 55 3.3.2.2 Texture of labels........................................................................................................ 55 3.3.2.3 Combining the variations of labels ..........................................................................