Introduction : the problem of two-dimensional information and the three-dimensional environment

My central interest in research is visual perception and the relationship between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional . In our daily life, we encounter a lot of flat images that represent three-dimensional scenes, such as the frame in a film or the scenery in a painting. We also record the three-dimensional in a two-dimensional image,e.g. the photograph and drawing. Usually we tackle the invisible linkage between two-dimensional images and their three-dimensional equivalents intuitively without conscious effort. To me, how people explore the space between two- to three-dimensional world (and vice versa) is quite fascinating. In the first year of my research, I sought several routes for identifying the exact issue most suited to my project and seeking materials that help to discuss and clarify modes of perceiving in the transition between two-dimensional and three-dimensional equivalents. Early explorations of the ways in which we represent the anatomical structures of the eyes proved too restricting. I sought insterad something more directly related to my own experience.

Map and walking Ñ how people use a flat two dimensional chart as guidance for moving in a certain placeÑis a topic that best fulfils my interests of the relation between two- and three-dimensional visual perceptions. This is not research into Cartography, nor a research into the orientational abilities of human beings , but concerns the circumstances in which people have to perceive both two-dimensional and three-dimensional information and integrate the information in their heads. In the cognitive sciences and in the study of design there is little published work on this subject.

In the display for this meeting, I would like to show images from three categories which together I call Holding the Map to the Landscape.

1. The behaviour of reading a Map as the guidance of a journey is to compare the information in the Map and the three-dimensional equivalent in the Environment. In images of people using maps we can find several repeated strategies:

(a) Someone points at the map to identify where he or she is;

(b) Someone points at the landscape to identify the equivalent or landmark on the map;

(c) Someone faces the landscape with a map without pointing, implies that the person is making the comparison. Most of the examples here come from the cover of maps and photos from leisure magazines.

2. The Map in the leaflet or a guidebook. Invariably this shows a combination of Map and representation of the actual landscape . I have chosen two particular examples of scenic map guides for comparison.

They are

2.1 Alfred Wainwright. Wainwright devoted most of his life to the Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. He was a highly accomplished amateur walking enthusiast. and

2.2 Heywood Sumner. Sumner, who was a designer involved in the Arts and Crafts movement, investigated his home and its vicinity in the New Forest as an amateur archaeologist and to record the environment by line drawing. The two authors draw the maps to achieve the densest detail, both use hand crafted letterforms on the maps, and both show the elevation of the landscape other than the map along. Although the map along with text provides necessary information for the tourists to take their own journey, in the guidebooks and leaflets, more or less we can always see the representations of the landscape. Beside the consideration of pleasing the readers as sheer illustration, is it possible that these images reassure the users about their feeling of taking that particular journey?

3. To compare the Map and the EnvironmentÑthis is at the heart of understanding your journeyÑusing the Map effectively. Starting young. To understand the process how people learn the concept of map and how to use that map, I refer to examples of childrenÕs books intended to teach the young how to use maps.There are several common strategies but the most familiar is

3.1 to teach children what things look like from above, or the birdÕs eye view,

3.2 to link the birdÕs eye view with his or her point of view. The strategy usually begins with smaller scale, like the birdÕs eye view of their own toys, and gradually enlarges to a larger space such as the area covering the school and their home. In this process, children learn the relation between two-dimensional information and the actual space. I want to study this strategy further.

CONCLUSION and QUESTIONS

1. What happen in more detail when a person uses a map to walk?

2. In terms of human cognition, how can we be said to "read a map"?

3. What is "the perception of Space"? How does it develop in a child?

4. How much does a map affect the experience of a user in the journey?

5. What is the implication of the birdÕs eye view? How did human initiate to use this kind of representation? What kind of psychological influence does the birdÕs eye view provide?

Future options

When the project develops further, I can see the possibilities of this project toward one of the following options:

1. An installation for the audiences to experience through display and interactive exercises the relationship between a given space and a sheet of two-dimensional information.

2. To develop systems of information management based on the concept of map and three-dimensional information. To develop templates for general application for understanding multi-dimensional information.

3. To design a learning package for children to learn to use a map more efficiently.