User Evaluation of Thematic Maps on Operational Areas of Rescue Helicopters

Abstract

This article presents the results of research on users concerning six thematic maps made with various mapping techniques and related to various aspects of the activities of the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service. The aim of the survey was to determine how the respondents rank these maps in terms of the four subjective evaluation criteria, which were the graphical attractiveness of maps, the readability of maps, the usefulness and importance of information, and the complexity of information presented on the maps. The greatest discrepancies were noted for the dot map, while the flow map obtained the most consistent evaluations. To check what the respondents were guided by while building the ranking for each criterion, a catalog of factors was created, the importance of which was assessed using the Likert scale. In the case of graphical attractiveness, users attach particular importance to the arrangement of objects visible on the map. The speed of reading the information is particularly important for map readability. In the case of the usefulness and importance of the information, the map topic, important for saving health and life from the user’s point of view, was of the greatest importance, while the amount of information in the legend significantly influenced the evaluation of information complexity.

Keywords

• thematic maps
• ranking
• subjective evaluation
• mapping techniques
• graphical attractiveness of map
• map readability