EVALUATING THE BENEFITS OF TILED DISPLAYS FOR NAVIGATING MAPS

Maps are used by almost everyone in society during the course of their lives. However, when maps are used with computers they are almost always used with small, low pixel count displays, such as desktop monitors. We performed two experiments involving map usage with various tiled display configurations (one monitor, four monitors, and nine monitors). The first experiment focused on basic map navigation tasks and the second experiment focused on how to maximize the effectiveness of the details-ondemand interactive technique with large, high pixel count displays. We conclusively found from the experiments that finding objects and route tracing in maps was performed on average twice as fast on the nine monitors as the one monitor. We also found that participants on the nine monitor configuration had 70% less mouse clicks, 90% less window management, and a general accuracy and performance improvement over the one monitor. This indicates improved insight for large, high pixel count displays.

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