Cartographic Considerations for Map-Like Interfaces to Digital Libraries

A number of user interface techniques have been put forward that implement a map metaphor to visualize abstract information. In this paper, some of the principles underlying these approaches are interpreted within a framework informed by geographic information science (GIScience). Recent advances in this research area have linked ideas about the nature of geographic information to cognitive schemata proposed by cognitive linguists. This paper draws on the arguments that have emerged from those efforts regarding the nature and usefulness of geographic metaphors. Particular projection techniques, like multidimensional scaling or self-organizing maps, are discussed with a focus on the geometric primitives that they employ. The creation of map-like interfaces is interpreted as a series of transformations leading to alternative visualizations whose relative merits remains to be investigated in future work. It is argued that information about the various transformations needs to be communicated to users if they are to effectively use map-like interfaces.