Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
concentrate on the elements of the landscape that appear to be important to people. The
phenomenological method used by Hampson may offer potential for exploring landscape
descriptions as generated by a range of people, including mapping agency practitioners, and
a joint exercise with members of the Ordnance Survey research unit has been suggested.
A particular aim here would be to assess whether the processes through which people
gain understanding can themselves be understood and can then contribute in some way to
developing a transparent methodology for developing a more collective understanding.
12.6.3 Visualization
The exhibition and colloquium offered an opportunity to explore how people engage with
geographical representations of different types. The ceiling painting itself proved a significant
focus in terms of studying issues of viewpoint, scale and geographical frames of reference.
There was no requirement for a single viewing position and orientation as there would be for
a conventional wall-mounted work or indeed a map or aerial photograph as displayed via a
computer monitor (with the assumption that 'North is up'). In some ways this relates to the
way in which interactive, immersive and mobile forms of visualization offer less prescriptive
views on the data but at the same time can require additional cues to provide spatial context
and to help orientate the user within the digital representation. The role of mobile technology
and visualization forms a part of SPLINT (spatial literacy in teaching), a Centre for Excellence
in Teaching and Learning funded by the Higher Education Funding Council of England
(HEFCE). Involving the University of Leicester (lead partner), the University of Nottingham
and University College London, SPLINT aims to explore and enhance spatial literacy skills in
Higher Education both within and beyond Geography. Through this initiative it is hoped that
the effectiveness of various visual and non-visual, geographic representations are explored as
alternative spatial frames of reference (for example Priestnall and Polmear, 2006). Lab-based
stereo visualization facilities will offer a test bed for studying how groups gain understanding
from landscape visualization scenarios, including the exploratory use of metadata in this
context. The user's geographic location within the virtual model is also transmitted within
the lab as a virtual GPS signal in order to test spatially aware applications being developed
on mobile devices before being taken out into the field, following on from the work of Li
and Longley (2006). This environment will also offer an opportunity to explore the key
components of landscape visualization which prove influential in helping viewers orientate
themselves and gain understanding from the presentation.
12.7 Conclusion
The desire to aim for photorealistic landscape visualization is understandable in public
contexts given rising expectations and familiarity with cinematic and gaming graphics in the
audiences. There do, however, appear to be some interesting avenues of exploration relating
to how people gain understanding of a landscape in various contexts and given various
forms of geographic representation. No specific common methodological approach for
both artistic and GIScience approaches to landscape representation has yet been suggested.
The mode of collaboration, however, has proved important in encouraging approaches
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