Geography for GIS

Written by Robert Slobodian, Malaspina University-College


CONCEPT NAME
  • Mental Mapping: Psychological Space and Distance
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    DEFINITION AND EXAMPLES
  • Cognitive mapping seeks to understand how people perceive their spatial environment and how those perceptions get translated into actions. The reality of space sometimes gets set aside as people operate on their understanding of reality as it exists in their own mental maps.
  • Introductory Human Geography textbooks usually introduce this topic by looking at the classic map - "New Yorker's View of America". Which exaggerates familiar places by enlarging them compared to the diminished size and detail of places less familiar.
  • The urban residents of the downtown section of an eastern city can often meet most of their household requirements within a few city blocks and may not travel for work, recreation or housekeeping more than a few blocks or maybe a 20-30 minute journey. Compare this to the rural west dweller where grocery shopping or a movie may be a 4 hour drive.
  • Distance is experiential. The psychological distance for a college student between home and college campus often depends on mode of transport: car / bus / bicycle / walking / skateboard / wheelchair.
  • You can reflect on the expanding sense of space that accompanies human development. The confined notions of space to a newborn continuously expand through infancy, toddler, and childhood stages until the adolescent shows a grasp of regional and global scales. In western societies ability focus on the global scale is expected of adults.
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    WEBLINKS: EXPLANATION AND EXAMPLES
  • Link to the Mining Company's Geography Guide for more information on - Mental Mapping

    • http://geography.mingco.com/library/weekly/aa121597.htm

  • Link to the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis on - Mental Mapping

    • http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/education/curricula/giscc/units/u006/u006.html

  • Link to Virginia Tech's example of - Mental Mapping

    • http://simon.cs.vt.edu/~geosim/mmap.html

    TEXT REFERENCES

    Fellman

    Page 23

    Knox

    Page 34

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