Search efficiency and visual appeal of pictorial-based and typography-based map

Kovačević, Dorotea (author), Možina, Klementina (author)

Visual information should be presented clearly and effectively so that it is quickly and easily understood. The same principle applies to different types of maps and plans. This study explores the relationship between a map’s design and how users interact with it when searching for specific targets. Focusing on a digital tourist city map, we employed an eye-tracking technology to investigate how different cartographic designs (pictorial-based versus typography-based) influence visual search. As the need for visually appealing designs becomes an important part of the user experience, we further explored the observers’ perceptions of the maps’ visual appeal. The results show that the typography-based maps enabled a more effective visual search than the pictorial, as measured by search time, fixation count, and the number of fixations before locating the target. A greater amount of visual attention was directed towards the typography-based maps, as measured by completion time and several eye-tracking metrics during the observers’ evaluation of the maps’ visual appeal. Based on the results, this study highlights the practical implications of effective map design in enhancing users’ navigation and their visual engagement with cartographic data.

• Language: English
• Keywords: attractiveness, eye-tracking, pictogram, point of interest, typography, visual search
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: NTF - Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 15 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 15, iss. 3, art.119
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-180880
• UDC: 655.26
• ISSN on article: 2220-9964
• DOI: 10.3390/ijgi15030119
• COBISS.SI-ID: 271947267
• Publication date in RUL: 24.03.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: ISPRS international journal of geo-information
• Shortened title: ISPRS int. j. geo-inf.
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2220-9964
• COBISS.SI-ID: 18678550

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: privlačnost, sledenje očesnim premikom, piktogram, področje zanimivosti, tipografija, vizualno iskanje

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P2-0450-2024
• Name: Inovativna grafična tehnologija

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: BI-HR/25-27-018-2025
• Name: Vpliv kompleksnosti tipografije in piktogramov na uporabniško izkušnjo