Map Visualization Systems, Adaptive User Interface Research

Cartographic visualization system (CViS) has become a kind of important tool of human's spacial cognition. However, the problem of CViS' user interface that can't adapt to different users is emergent while CViS is needed by more and more users. The problem becomes an obstacle in the way of CviS' development. The author researches adaptive user interface of CViS to discover a new way solves the interface's problem. And interface concerned cognitive theory, framework, methods of implementation are researched also.The main achievements of this paper are the follows:1. Having introduced the concepts about user interface; comparing with computer software's development phases the author illuminates CViS' user interface development history, trends and current challenges.2. Having summarized and analyzed the models of current CViS' user interface. The author finds that the design styles of CViS' user interface are still limited by traditional cartographic thinking. Although promoted by new technology of modern computer science, four established typical user interfaces models only fit application domain but not adapt to widely user's kinds. The author uses the model of cartographic information transformation to analyze the essential reason of the user interface's problem: designers ignore the different user's cognition characteristics, so users and designers thinking in tow apart ways. Because of this reason, the author thinks it is necessary to research adaptive user interface for CViS, that can adapt different user's cognition characteristics.3. In the author's view, CViS' user interface has different characteristics with other software. So we should extent user interface's concept, and consider the importance of human cognition factors. By research of user interface concerned cognitive theory, the author archives some key factors of human cognition in user interface design, and discovers methods of user's cognition classification.4. The author designs a cognitive experiment, and builds a programme for the experiment to archive user's cognitive characteristics accurately and reasonably. By analyzed the data archived by experiment, the author finds some important relations of user's cognitive factors and user interface's styles. Based on experiment results, the author brings forward a framework of CViS' adaptive user interface, and builds its work mechanism. At last, an adaptive user interface prototype is developed and it makes some adaptive functions become realization.