Preventing Interruptions in Mobile Map Reading Process by Personalisation

Cartographers’ main objective in map design is to create in the mind of a map reader (i.e. user) an abstraction of the real world appropriate to the map’s purpose. The final result depends, not only on the cartographers’, but also users’ skills and ways to perceive, as well as on the map usage situation. Interruptions during map reading process of mobile maps occur, when the conceptual models of the cartographer and the user do not match, e.g. if the user does not understand the symbols, or the overall layout of the mobile map. This can be frustrating from the users’ point of view. It is thought here, that by bringing context awareness into the maps on mobile devices, interruptions in map reading process could be decreased, by providing each user with symbols that are adapted to the usage situation and user preferences in real-time. In this paper some ideas, of how to implement context awareness into mobile maps by personalisation, are presented.