1.5.2. Spatial Navigation in 2D Maps

Spatial navigation is used in most interactive maps. Especially for address and route search systems it is substantial to feature spatial navigation because their main function is showing maps in different zoom levels.

The most common spatial navigation tools for 2D maps are:

• Zooming
  • enlarging or reducing a portion of a map or image to see it more clearly or to get a better overview
  • changing map scale

You can zoom in and out by repositioning the slider knob. Zooming

• Panning or Scrolling
  • repositioning or re-centering the map on the screen

To be able to pan the map, you first have to zoom in a bit and then avtivate the pan button. Afterwards, you can reposition the map with drag and drop actions. Panning

Panning and zooming are used to navigate through information spaces that are too large to be conveniently displayed within a single window (Cockburn et al. 2003)

According to (2005), these functionalities should be incorporated into dynamic maps because

1. It is common and widely understood
2. It potentially encourages exploration
3. It allows for greater information density than would be possible with static digital maps, and thus, helps to overcome the low resolution limitations of electronic displays
4. It allows users to scale and position the map to suit their needs

Navigation Tools

There is no single best (one-size-fits-all) spatial navigation tool that fits all needs. The suitability of navigation tools depends on the user (experience, motivation), the task to solve and the type and size of information space. Larger information spaces probably need different tools than smaller ones. Good mapping systems therefore provide multiple methods for zooming and panning. (Harrower et al. 2005)