Wemap-based direction model for individuals with limited spatial orientation skills

Abstract

Spatial direction relationships act as links between visually perceived data and natural language in cartography and geographic information systems. Although the existing direction models are able to compute spatial direction relationships, their adaptability to unique users of Wemap, such as individuals with limited spatial orientation skills (ILSOS), is minimal. In particular, the ability to identify locations and directions on maps can pose serious challenges for ILSOS. As such, a Wemap-based direction model was developed in this study to address this deficiency, specifically targeting ILSOS. To address these challenges, a model for calculating spatial direction relationships was constructed. Subsequently, a questionnaire was administered to verify the consistency of the proposed model with the spatial perceptions of ILSOS. The experimental results demonstrate that (1) the proposed model can calculate the spatial direction relationships between a reference object and source target based on absolute reference frames; (2) ILSOS account for a certain proportion of the population and have a superior ability to distinguish spatial over geographic directions; and (3) the calculation results of the proposed model are consistent with the spatial cognition of ILSOS.