Applying The Theatrical Space And Stage Metaphor To Information Design Of Maps (Atlases) Interaction

Driven by information technology,there have been many significant changes in production and media forms of maps,and maps become various in forms and functions.Maps(Atlases)have also gradually transformed from traditional paper production into comprehensive applications on the Internet with emphasis on content interconnection and user experience.Multimedia atlas,a high-level reprocessed form of traditional printed atlas,is characterized by animation,interactivity,and multimedia,which integrates computer digital graphics,geographic information services and multimedia communication.It becomes the principal product that visualizes spatial information and executes storytelling.At present,the researches on multimedia atlas are mainly about information architecture,UI design,visualization methods,thematic applications and so on.Most of them focus on technical development,but may ignore the users'experience.Especially,there is lack of a systematic strategy to guide the design of multimedia atlas.In addition,involving multi-disciplinary knowledge,multimedia atlas design requires further integration with other disciplines'theories and methods.This paper is based on the cross-disciplinary paradigm between spatial information transmission and theatrical space construction.Though the study of“space turn”and the structure of theatrical space,this paper reconstructs the connotation of multimedia atlas space through a new integrated perspective,which defines a trinity of atlas space:internal logic space,external visualization space and dynamic interaction space.Then the corresponding strategies of space design are proposed,which focus on‘user experience'and provide a multi-dimensional spatial narrative mode and interactive interface design methods for map/atlas information visualization.As an application case,this paper designed a mobile multimedia atlas of ECNU(E~+CNU)to systematically customize the system structure,UI and interaction manners,in order to validate the availability and effectiveness of the above strategies.The result shows that the proposed theories and methods are useful explorations of map information design and innovative thinking of atlas formal expansion.And as an application instance,it is helpful for the information transmission during the media migration and could enhance the propaganda effectiveness of university atlas.In the future,it is necessary to extensively investigate the possibility and availability of other multi-technology and alternative platform to break through the functional limitations of the present prototype platform iH5.So that more methods of spatial information visualization should be achieved in multimedia atlas.As a final target,the prototype platform could be evolved to a systematic product.