Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Science
GEOG 231, Spring 09, 4 credits

Instructor: Dr. Martin Raubal, raubal@geog.ucsb.edu
Office (hours): Wednesday 3-4:30pm, EH 5713
Phone: 893-4839
Class meets: Thursday 12:30-3pm, EH5824

Course description:
Spatial cognition research has become a hot topic in the area of geographic information science within the last 15 years. Cognitive models provide part of the theoretical foundation of both geographic information science and systems. The field deals with topics such as how people perceive and cognize spatial information, how they reason and communicate about it, how they represent spatial information, and how they use it. It is important to integrate such knowledge and theories into spatial information and design systems to improve system usability and efficiency.
This seminar includes readings from several disciplines, such as geography, cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence. We will both review theoretical foundations and look at cognitively engineered applications for location-based decision support. Students will see how human cognition is relevant to many aspects of geographic information science. The seminar will mainly consist of readings, student presentations, and discussions. Students are responsible for preparing questions to be discussed in the seminar and writing short commentaries on the weekly readings. Each student will be responsible for one session including presentation of the weekly material (and possibly additional material) and lead of discussion.

Required reading: Literature for the course is supplied online by the instructor. Weekly readings are listed below. Please come to class prepared to discuss the readings, which are listed for that day.

Grades: Grades will be determined by your presentation and lead of discussion (35%), the written assignments (35%), and your general class participation (30%). Class participation is mandatory.

Written assignments: The written assignments consist of brief critical commentaries (not longer than 1 page each) and your questions connected to the readings. You should have prepared at least 3 questions (possibly related to your own field of study) that can be discussed in the weekly sessions. You must hand in a printed version to the instructor at the beginning of each session. Late assignments will not be accepted and count as failed.

Weekly schedule and readings

Week 1, 2 April 2009: Introduction & Schedule

Week 2, 9 April 2009: Overview

• D. Mark, C. Freksa, S. Hirtle, R. Lloyd, and B. Tversky (1999) Cognitive models of geographical space. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 13(8): 747-774.
• D. Montello and S. Freundschuh (2005) Cognition of Geographic Information. in: R. McMaster and E. Usery (Eds.), A research agenda for geographic information science. pp. 61-91, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

Week 3, 16 April 2009: Human conceptions of spaces

• H. Couclelis and N. Gale (1986) Space and Spaces. Geografiska Annaler 68B: 1-12.
• D. Montello (1993) Scale and Multiple Psychologies of Space. in: A. U. Frank and I. Campari (Eds.), Spatial Information Theory: Theoretical Basis for GIS. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 716, pp. 312-321, Springer Verlag, Heidelberg-Berlin.
• S. Freundschuh and M. Egenhofer (1997) Human Conceptions of Spaces: Implications for GIS. Transactions in GIS 2(4): 361-375.

Week 4, 23 April 2009: Acquisition & representation of geographical information

• D. Montello (1998) A New Framework for Understanding the Acquisition of Spatial Knowledge in Large-Scale Environments. in: M. Egenhofer and R. Golledge (Eds.), Spatial and Temporal Reasoning in Geographic Information Systems. Spatial Information Systems pp. 143-154, Oxford University Press, New York.
• B. Smith and D. Mark (2001) Geographical categories: an ontological investigation. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 15(7): 591-612.
• R. Bunch and R. Lloyd (2006) The Cognitive Load of Geographic Information. The Professional Geographer 58(2): 209-220.

Week 5, 30 April 2009: Cognitive maps and mental processing

• R. Kitchin (1994) Cognitive Maps: What are they and why study them? Journal of Environmental Psychology 14: 1-19.
• B. Tversky (1993) Cognitive Maps, Cognitive Collages, and Spatial Mental Model. in: A. Frank and I. Campari (Eds.), Spatial Information Theory: Theoretical Basis for GIS. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 716, pp. 14-24, Springer Verlag, Heidelberg-Berlin.
• T. Barkowsky (2001) Mental Processing of Geographic Knowledge. in: D. Montello (Ed.), Spatial Information Theory - Foundations of Geographic Information Science, Proceedings of COSIT 2001, Morro Bay, CA, USA, September 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2205, pp. 371-386, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.
• J. Portugali (2005) Cognitive Maps Are over 60. in: A. Cohn and D. Mark (Eds.), Spatial Information Theory - International Conference, COSIT 2005, Ellicottville, NY, USA, September 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3693, pp. 251-264, Springer, Heidelberg.

Week 6, 7 May 2009: Use and communication of geographical information

• C. Nothegger, S. Winter, and M. Raubal (2004) Selection of Salient Features for Route Directions. Spatial Cognition and Computation 4(2): 113-136.
• S. Winter, M. Raubal, and C. Nothegger (2005) Focalizing Measures of Salience for Wayfinding. in: L. Meng, A. Zipf, and T. Reichenbacher (Eds.), Map-based Mobile Services – Theories, Methods and Implementations. pp. 127-142, Springer, Berlin.
• A. Frank, S. Bittner, and M. Raubal (2001) Spatial and Cognitive Simulation with Multi-agent Systems. in: D. Montello (Ed.), Spatial Information Theory - Foundations of Geographic Information Science, Proceedings of COSIT 2001, Morro Bay, CA, USA, September 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2205, pp. 124-139, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.

Week 7, 14 May 2009: Cognitive Engineering

• D. Norman (1986) Cognitive Engineering. in: D. Norman and S. Draper (Eds.), User Centered System Design. pp. 31-61, Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., Hillsdale.
• D. Norman (1988) The Design of Everyday Things. Doubleday, New York.
  Chapter 1: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things
  Chapter 3: Knowledge in the Head and in the World
• M. Raubal (in press) Cognitive Engineering for Geographic Information Science. Geography Compass.

Week 8, 21 May 2009: Mobile decision-making and context

• J. Cowie and F. Burstein (2007) Quality of data model for supporting mobile decision making. Decision Support Systems 43: 1675-1683.
• A. Zipf (2002) User-Adaptive Maps for Location-Based Services (LBS) for Tourism. in: K. Wöber, A. Frew, and M. Hitz (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th International Conference for Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, Innsbruck, Austria. pp. Springer, Heidelberg, Berlin.
• M. Raubal and I. Panov (2009) A Formal Model for Mobile Map Adaptation. in: G. Gartner and K. Rehrl (Eds.), Location Based Services and TeleCartography II - From Sensor Fusion to Context Models. Selected Papers from the 5th International Symposium on LBS & TeleCartography 2008, Salzburg, Austria. Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography pp. 11-34, Springer, Berlin.

Week 9, 28 May 2009: Time geography for Location-based services

• T. Hägerstrand (1970) What about people in regional science? Papers of the Regional Science Association 24: 7-21.
• H. Miller (2007) Place-Based versus People-Based Geographic Information Science. Geography Compass 1(3): 503-535.
• M. Raubal, H. Miller, and S. Bridwell (2004) User-Centred Time Geography For Location-Based Services. Geografiska Annaler B 86(4): 245-265.

Week 10, 4 June 2009: Location-based decision services

• C. Rinner and M. Raubal (2004) Personalized Multi-Criteria Decision Strategies in Location-Based Decision Support. Journal of Geographic Information Sciences 10(2): 149-156.
• C. Rinner, M. Raubal, and B. Spigel (2005) User Interface Design for Location-Based Decision Services. in: 13th International Conference on GeoInformatics, 17-19 August 2005, Proceedings (CD-ROM), Toronto, Canada.
• S. Hansen, K.-F. Richter, and A. Klippel (2006) Landmarks in OpenLS - A Data Structure for Cognitive Ergonomic Route Directions. in: M. Raubal, H. Miller, A. Frank, and M. Goodchild (Eds.), Geographic Information Science - Fourth International Conference, GIScience 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4197, pp. 128–144, Springer, Berlin.

Further references:

• G. Allen, Ed. (2007) Applied Spatial Cognition - From Research to Cognitive Technology. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, New Jersey.
• M. Egenhofer and R. Franzosa (1991) Point-set topological spatial relations. International Journal of Geographical Information Systems 5(2): 161-174.
• Frank (1998) Formal Models for Cognition - Taxonomy of Spatial Location Description and Frames of Reference. in: C. Freksa, C. Habel, and K. Wender (Eds.), Spatial Cognition, An Interdisciplinary Approach to Representing and Processing Spatial Knowledge. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 1404, pp. 293-312, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany.
• Frank and M. Raubal (1999) Formal Specifications of Image Schemata - A Step to Interoperability in Geographic Information Systems. Spatial Cognition and Computation 1(1): 67-101.
• R. Golledge (1995) Primitives of spatial knowledge. in: T. Nyerges, D. Mark, R. Laurini, and M. Egenhofer (Eds.), Cognitive aspects of human-computer interaction for geographic information systems. pp. 29-44, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht.
• R. Golledge, Ed. (1999) Wayfinding Behavior - Cognitive Mapping and Other Spatial Processes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
• S. Hirtle (1998) The Cognitive Atlas: Using GIS as a Metaphor for Memory. in: M. Egenhofer and R. Golledge (Eds.), Spatial and Temporal Reasoning in Geographic Information Systems. pp. 267-276, Oxford University Press.
• T. Jordan, M. Raubal, B. Gartrell, and M. Egenhofer (1998) An Affordance-Based Model of Place in GIS. in: T. Poiker and N. Chrisman (Eds.), 8th Int. Symposium on Spatial Data Handling, SDH'98, Vancouver, Canada, pp. 98-109.
• Kuipers (1978) Modeling Spatial Knowledge. Cognitive Science (2): 129-153.
• M.-P. Kwan (2000) Analysis of human spatial behavior in a GIS environment: Recent developments and future prospects. Journal of Geographical Systems 2(1): 85-90.
• K. Lynch (1960) The Image of the City. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• D. Mark and M. Egenhofer (1994) Modeling Spatial Relations Between Lines and Regions: Combining Formal Mathematical Models and Human Subjects Testing. Cartography and Geographical Information Systems 21(3): 195-212.
• J. Mennis, D. Peuquet, and L. Qian (2000) A conceptual framework for incorporating cognitive principles into geographical database representation. Int. Journal of Geographical Information Science 14(6): 501-520.
• H. Miller (2005) What about people in geographic information science? in: P. Fisher and D. Unwin (Eds.), Re-Presenting Geographical Information Systems. pp. 215-242, John Wiley.
• D. Montello (1995) How Significant are Cultural Differences in Spatial Cognition? in: A. Frank and W. Kuhn (Eds.), Spatial Information Theory-A Theoretical Basis for GIS. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 988, pp. 485-500, Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York.
• A. Parush, S. Ahuvia, and I. Erev (2007) Degradation in Spatial Knowledge Acquisition When Using Navigation Systems. in: S. Winter, M. Duckham, L. Kulik, and B. Kuipers (Eds.), Spatial Information Theory - 8th International Conference, COSIT 2007, Melbourne, Australia, September 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4736, pp. 238-254, Springer, Berlin.
• M. Raubal (2001) Human wayfinding in unfamiliar buildings: a simulation with a cognizing agent. Cognitive Processing 2(2-3): 363-388.
• P. Sadeghian and M. Kantardzic (2008) The New Generation of Automatic Landmark Detection Systems: Challenges and Guidelines. Spatial Cognition and Computation 8(3): 252-287.
• E. Tolman (1948) Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychological Review 55: 189-208.
• R. Wilson and F. Keil, Eds. (1999) The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A.

Links:

• UCSB Cognitive Science Program, http://cogsci.ucsb.edu/
• MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences, http://cognet.mit.edu/library/erefs/mitecs/
• Don Norman, http://www.jnd.org/