COMPARING CHOROPLETH AND GRADUATED SYMBOLS: HOW DIFFERENT MAP TYPES AFFECT PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING IN COVID-19 MAP READING IN BADUNG REGENCY, BALI, INDONESIA

Information on COVID-19 is vital in protecting the entire community. As the diffusion pattern changes rapidly over time, originally simple data must be presented differently to provide more representative and quickly readable information. Relevant data are now offered in maps to support the public dissemination of COVID-19 information, with Choropleth and Graduated Symbols being the most common map types. This research was the first to analyze community’s map reading skills, particularly in interpreting or understanding Indonesia’s COVID-19 case distribution portrayed on the map. To test both map types, an online questionnaire was sent to respondents selected by random sampling from people living in Badung Regency. Then, they were given 11 tasks, namely to identify, find extreme values, differentiate, retrieve values, compare, interpret, categorize, group, sort, associate, and locate information contents on both maps. Then, chi-squared, Cramer's V, and Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to statistically analyze three aspects: accuracy, time, and level of difficulty. The results showed that the choropleth map was easier to read than the graduated symbols. Furthermore, the null hypothesis (H0) was rejected, which means there is a correlation between map type and community’s ability to read and understand maps. © 2022, Asociatia Geographia Technica. All rights reserved.