Shifting the Focus in Mobile Maps

Mobile maps show the current position of a map reader in their center. We will question this convention, which is in our opinion a relict from paper maps. We observe that, in contrast to paper maps, mobile maps have a narrower purpose and mobile devices have a different affordance and handling. This observation encourages thinking of a map design that allows an embodied experience of map reading. The latter is realized here by a shift of the current position of the map reader to the bottom of a mobile map. We expect that a map design closer to the bodily experience of a map reader reduces the cognitive workload of reading. In this paper we investigate the new design paradigm and its consequences. Furthermore, we present experiments of reaction times of map readers, to find evidence for the validity of our hypothesis.