Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
4- Results
4.1 Study 1: Online Survey
25 non-experts replied to the online survey
3
. 20 out of 25 answered that
they trust paper maps, and 15 answered that they trust online maps, while
three answered that they do not trust them and seven were unsure. In terms
of trust, non-experts were most concerned with information updates and
the data source provider. Attributes such as the reputation of the website
and its popularity (e.g.
“I use well known maps expecting that somebody
will have spotted any mistakes and corrected it”
) influence trust. In sum-
mary the following elements were mentioned by the respondents: updates,
level of detail, coherency, source, professional and clear look (e.g.
“If it
looks professional I'd trust it”
), and accuracy
4
.
Some respondents explained that they trust the skill of the cartographer
and others mentioned that look for different elements based on the purpose
of using the map (e.g.
“if it is for legalities I check for the Ordnance
Survey logo”
). A common strategy they develop before trusting an online
map is to look for reference points they can recognise (e.g.
“Some times I
spot a place I know and see if its representation makes sense”
). The
following
Table 3
provides a summary of the non-experts' responses con-
cerning the specific trust-related items under investigation, again without
the duplicates and negatives, that were included in the original question-
naire.
3
30 experts also replied but their answers were not considered, as this paper focuses on
non-expert interaction.
4
Although none of the participants explained how they assess it.
