This exploratory study addresses the following question: Is there an explanatory relationship between the chronological sequence in which individuals explore an environment and the way they subsequently draw a sketch map of that same environment? To answer it, we conducted a navigation experiment in La Plaine Saint-Denis (France) involving 118 participants tracked in real time, and divided into three groups: (1) solo exploration without instruments; (2) solo exploration with a mobile map; (3) collective exploration through a dedicated application. The comparison of the tracking data with the videos of the sketch map making shows that Group 1 participants drew the places they visited in the chronological order of their exploration. This tendency is less significant in Group 2, and absent in Group 3, suggesting that in the absence of a map and/or collective interactions, individuals who draw a sketch map tend to recall the route they have just taken.

Contemporary artistic research has successively integrated preoccupations with the experimentation of space and mobility, as well as collective interactions between participants in situations of proximity or remoteness. In the scientific field, an important part of spatial cognition study has recently turned towards understanding the collective aspects of spatial cognition, integrating an understanding of the acquisition of spatial knowledge and studying cognitive maps, as well as research on navigation and individual and collective memorization. In both cases, spatial behaviors and mental representations are fundamental focuses. Using CORES research combining artistic and scientific perspectives as an example, we clarify specific differences within a framework common to the arts and sciences. This article will develop three points: 1) Artistic and scientific research contexts, 2) Interactions between artistic and scientific perspectives, 3) Proposal of a 7-step joint arts and sciences research cycle. In so doing, this study aims to counter the divide between the artistic and scientific fields by demonstrating a shared creative dynamic.

This empirical study builds upon prior research concerning cultural influences on spatial mental representations in Oceania. A comprehensive examination of 93 mental maps sourced from 59 lagoon fishers of Moorea (French Polynesia) reveals interesting facts about the way they organize and share their spatial knowledge. Firstly, consistent with previous studies across Oceania, Polynesian fishers exhibit a preference for the allocentric perspective when representing their environment. Secondly, they generally rely on marine landmarks for navigation, with a particular emphasis on four entities: the reef barrier, maritime beacons, coral outcrops, and a key chromatic marker - Moana (blue in Tahitian) - indicating the depth of the lagoon. Finally, the factor analysis we conducted highlights two significant facts: (1) a geographical self-censorship, demonstrated by the low presence or even the absence of landmarks useful for locating their fishing spots; (2) a continuum between the surface and the depths of the lagoon, showing that surface fishers (line, net, troll, etc.) have a proven knowledge of seabed topography, whereas underwater speargun fishers also rely on landmarks located above the water.

While a number of studies have distinguished spatial and temporal memorization at individual level, none seem to have examined these two memorization modes in collaborative map drawing. After an initial review of the distinctions between spatial and temporal memorization at individual level, and a study of inhibition in collaborative memorization, we present several analyses carried out on 24 collaborative drawings from an urban spatial exploration. We compare metric and temporal measurements on these drawings to identify possible relationships between metric and temporal approaches, depending on whether group members proceeded individually or collectively in the urban exploration prior to the collaborative drawing phase.- Based on 6 landmarks common to all drawings, an initial approach to metric and temporal measurements is carried out by comparing the distances obtained from the graphs created on the drawings, with the temporal measurements deduced from the video recordings. While the metric measures correlate well with the physical space (Google), they neither enable us to observe significant relationships between metric and temporal distances, nor to discriminate sufficiently between the groups.- A second approach has therefore been taken, this time comparing the distances obtained from the starting point of urban exploration with landmarks’ order of appearance in the videos. In this case, the correlations obtained between metric distances and landmarks’ order of appearance prove to be significant for the group that interacted collectively in the urban space, but not for the groups that explored individually. Nevertheless, the group that repeated the collective exploration a month later showed relative independence from metric distances, in favor of a more global representation of the environment.

Research on spatial mental representations focuses on individual mental maps and spatial knowledge. This exploratory study investigates instead collective interactions, collaborative memory, and the sharing of spatial knowledge. Based on the principle of collaborative inhibition (i.e., people recall information less effectively in groups), we posed the following research question: How do collective interactions, occurring during environmental exploration and group drawing sessions, affect collaborative inhibition, and the quality of sketch maps designed collectively? We conducted in situ explorations in Plaine St-Denis (France) with real-time tracking, followed by individual and group drawing sessions. This experiment involved 118 participants divided into three groups: (1) solo explorations without devices; (2) solo explorations with a mobile mapping application; (3) collective explorations using the same application enhanced with interaction features (viewing collective routes and photos of visited places). The comparison of the total number of entities found on individual mental maps with those included in collective sketch maps reveals that collaborative inhibition applies to spatial memory. Additional findings indicate that the use of a map, combined with collective interactions, mitigates collaborative inhibition and increases the accuracy of the sketch maps. However, the effect of such interactions on group dynamics remains unclear as of now.

The rise of online mapping, mobile Internet, and smart devices allows to renew the content analysis of externalized mental maps in the form of sketch maps. Thanks to these technologies, it is now possible to connect physically distant people who move within the same space at the same time. Aims: Our research aimed at evaluating the impact of interactions produced via a shared mapping application on the acquisition of spatial knowledge and its restitution in the form of sketch maps. Methods: Two groups walked freely in the Plaine Saint-Denis district of Paris. Each movement was recorded in real time using a tracking device. Once the exploration finished, the participants were asked to draw on a sheet of paper the environment they had just walked through. •Group 1: 40 people who walked individually without any tools. •Group 2: 8 groups of 5 people interacted with each other (commenting and posting photos about places) using a shared mapping mobile application on which the real-time paths of each walker appeared on a white background. Preliminary results and Conclusion: Preliminary analyses of tracking data and sketch maps show that unlike participants of Group 1, individuals of Group 2 mentioned on their mental maps landmarks that they did not visit during their exploration. In other words, those results suggest that collective interactions seem to have an impact on the process of spatial knowledge acquisition

As producers and consumers of data, users of mapping platforms play a key role in the commodification of geographic information. Once considered as a simple spatial location tool, the map has now become a personalized digital medium used to locate a variety of information. In order to better fit the uses of the general public, these platforms innovate by activating three triggers of appropriation (egocentrism, temporality and data aggregation) which, in the end, relativize the ontological dimension of the map. Following this post-representational movement of cartography, egography — whose foundations are outlined in this article — goes beyond conventional cartographic representation through augmented reality.

Résumé. L’apparition des Technologies de Géolocalisation (TdG) a profondément modifié notre rapport à l’espace. Ces dernières influencent singulièrement notre manière de communiquer et de raisonner spatialement. Après avoir brièvement retracé l’avènement des TdG, ce chapitre dresse une typologie inédite des mobilités soutenues par l’usage combiné de ces médias situés et des données géographiques qu’ils mobilisent. Celle-ci est complétée par un exemple concret d’exploitation de données de mobilités contributives à des fins d’identification de points de repère sémantiques. Mots-clés

The wayfinding feature highly contributed to the rise of cartographic platforms. However, no study really focused on the way these tools are both used and perceived in a wayfinding context. The qualitative investigation we conducted on 30 users of such platforms suggests that the related uses depend on - at least - two mental models: the first one assumes that the cartographic platform is a digital extension of paper maps, while the other one likens it to a GPS system.

The wayfinding feature highly contributed to the rise of cartographic platforms. However, no study really focused on the way these tools are both used and perceived in a wayfinding context. The qualitative investigation we conducted on 30 users of such platforms suggests that the related uses depend on – at least – two mental models: the first one assumes that the cartographic platform is a digital extension of paper maps, while the other one likens it to a GPS system.

Geolocated data shared on the social web arouse geographers’ interest. While some of them advocate their potential for academic research, others remain less enthusiastic. I argue here that the benefits from the analyses of such data are poor, nay absent ; if Space is considered not just as a simple extent, but as a meaningful content of social interactions. In particular, I put forward three arguments to support this position : « geosocial » « data » are (1) manufactured by profit organizations, (2) contextless and consequently (3) exclusively interpretable in terms of location.

Research in the area of spatial cognition demonstrated that references to landmarks are essential in the communication and the interpretation of wayfinding instructions for human being. In order to detect landmarks, a model for the assessment of their salience has been previously developed by Raubal and Winter. According to their model, landmark salience is divided into three categories: visual, structural, and semantic. Several solutions have been proposed to automatically detect landmarks on the basis of these categories. Due to a lack of relevant data, semantic salience has been frequently reduced to objects’ historical and cultural significance. Social dimension (i.e., the way an object is practiced and recognized by a person or a group of people) is systematically excluded from the measure of landmark semantic salience even though it represents an important component. Since the advent of mobile Internet and smartphones, the production of geolocated content from social web platforms—also described as geosocial data—became commonplace. Actually, these data allow us to have a better understanding of the local geographic knowledge. Therefore, we argue that geosocial data, especially Social Location Sharing datasets, represent a reliable source of information to precisely measure landmark semantic salience in urban area.