Haverkort – EMBEDDING CUES ABOUT TRAVEL TIME IN SCHEMATIC MAPS 2014

Description

Herman Haverkort addresses how schematic public-transport maps often mislead users because map distances do not match travel times. He proposes visual cues to indicate section speeds (map millimeters per travel minute) so users can judge faster or slower connections at a glance rather than relying on numeric times. Using a Dutch rail map as example, he presents four techniques: width adjustment (faster sections drawn wider), shape adjustment (wiggliness inversely proportional to speed), a heat-map background encoding inverse speed continuously, and a blob-collection zoning (zones sized so trains cross a boundary every 20 minutes). He compares methods on expressive power, usability, affordance, visual clutter, production complexity and aesthetics: width and heat maps offer precise mappings; shape highlights slow sections but has limited discrimination; blobs suit long trips but can clutter and may lack feasible zone partitions. Haverkort calls for design rules, empirical evaluation, and algorithmic work (interpolation, zone generation) to optimize and compare these techniques.