1.2.2. Three Navigation Types

As you could read in the previous chapter we distinguish between spatial, temporal and thematic navigation.

Thematic Navigation

Thematic navigation controls the thematic information of a multimedia application. In web pages this is normally the navigation between different files. In interactive 2D maps, thematic navigation often allows to change the appearing of the map or to extract thematic attributes or values out of the map.

Example of Thematic Navigation

Temporal Navigation

Some multimedia applications contain a temporal component. In each time span (minutes, hours, days, etc.) happened specific events that are visualised in the application. Navigating between these events is temporal navigation.

Example of Temporal Navigation

Spatial Navigation

Spatial navigation is the process of orienting and moving through a virtual environment (University of Edinburgh). Spatial navigation is mainly used in interactive 2D maps as you will see in further chapters.

Example of Spatial Navigation