Visual Communication of Bicycle Routes Using Cartographic Symbols

Abstract

AbstractWith the increasing promotion of sustainable forms of mobility in the context of the traffic policies, bicycles represent an environmentally friendly alternative to motorized private transport This especially accounts for coping with inner-city routes. However, in contrast to car drivers, the perceived riding comfort and safety of cyclists strongly depends on route characteristics, such as surface conditions or traffic infrastructure. However, currently available bicycle navigation systems hardly consider these factors relevant for the route choice of cyclists, and the visualization is often limited to a simple highlighting of the recommended route. Therefore, this article investigates the appropriateness of different cartographic representations of bicycle routes for the visual communication of route characteristics, such as type of terrain, terrain roughness, terrain gradient, and interruptions. A user survey is conducted to assess the effectiveness, attractiveness, appropriateness, and dispensability of a legend of the various display options for the different route features. The results of the survey indicate that many of the proposed visualization variants are appropriate for the visual communication of bicycle routes. This concerns in particular color representations as well as representations using symbols. However, with respect to the bicycle route features tested, the most appropriate representation heavily depends on the information being communicated. The findings of this study should contribute to the development of route visualizations that are specifically tailored to the needs of cyclists and thus support developers of bicycle navigation systems in making design decisions.