Spatial Literacy in the Age of Digital Geospatial Information

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K12454
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Geography
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Ishikawa Toru 東京大学, 大学院情報学環, 教授 (70436583)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 地理学 / 地理情報システム / 地理情報科学 / 認知行動地理学 / 空間認知・心理・行動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Our society has become increasingly spatially enabled, where geospatial technologies and georeferenced data infrastructures allow us to access a vast amount and variety of information whenever we need it, at any place, at any time. Such a spatially enabled society, however, poses potential problems for our cognition and behavior in the environment. In particular, some concerns have been raised about geospatial awareness in the age of satellite navigation. Although these concerns are legitimate, they await empirical examination--existing studies examined short-term or momentary effects of the use of navigation systems, but not long-term effects. Thus, this research examined the relationship between accumulated experience of using different types of navigation tools and spatial learning in a large-scale space, through a correlational study of spatial aptitudes and use of navigation tools and a behavioral experiment of wayfinding and spatial orientation with different navigation tools.

Free Research Field

認知行動地理学