Spatial Ability and Map-Based Software Applications

摘要

Location-based applications are growing in importance as agencies are placing more and more computing into their field applications. The development of software for these applications needs to consider the wide range of user skills. The present work looks at the impact of spatial ability on a typical Census Bureau application (address verification). A study of a text guided software system for address verification was conducted. The participants were tested to determine their logical reasoning, visualization, and perspective taking abilities. The participants performed a set of address verification tasks using a tablet in a stationary environment. The study and results are presented and discussed.