Illustrating shared features of students’ cognitive image of a university campus

ABSTRACT

Sketch maps reveal important features that reflect people’s understanding of the environment. This study presents how the different types of sketch maps highlighted shared spatial knowledge through a theory-based approach to skeletal map development. Sketch maps collected from 123 university students demonstrated that the information drawn combined sequential (streets) and spatial elements highly dominated by landmarks. Students’ cognitive image of the campus is influenced by open spaces as structuring regional features. The paper illustrated a quick visualization of the spatial layout and how the shared features are described in the route instructions that may be useful during wayfinding.

KEYWORDS:

• Sketch maps
• shared spatial knowledge
• skeletal map
• route instructions
• spatial layout

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the students who participated in the study and to some colleagues who have provided suggestions about the tasks. Also, thanks to Ralph Chester Retamal for the assistance in verifying the sketch maps.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. A free and open-source GIS software.