Hypermedia Maps and the Internet Michael P. Peterson Chair, Maps and the Internet Commission of the International Cartographic Association Geography, Univ. of NebraskaNebraska-Omaha
[email protected]
Introduction
Internet has changed mapping and map use Many problems need to be solved to make the Internet a more effective form of map delivery
Development of new map forms, like hypermedia maps Improving map use
Making maps available to people
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Hypermedia Maps
Success based on
Envisioning new combinations of maps and media Finding workable methods of delivery to the map user
Marketing, funding, maintenance
Purpose
Examine the current status of Internetdelivered hypermedia maps
availability through search engines difficulty in finding based on a variety of search terms
Examine possible solutions to make hypermedia maps more available
searching and marketing
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Internet
Development of hypermedia based on Internet
Year
Internet Users in Billions
2007
1.46
2005
1
Growth of Internet usage
2004
0.935
Source: Computer Industry Almanac (2001, 2005)
2001
0.533
2000
0.327
1996
0.061
Quick transition from CDCD-ROM to Internet
Internet Use vs Internet Map Use
Growth in the Use of the Internet in the number of new users per year. e 0.45
Growth in Internet Map Use in Number of Maps Distributed per Day e 0.80
Figure 6. A comparison between the growth of the Internet and the growth of Internet map use. Both growth rates are exponential. Internet map use is growing at a faster rate, approximated by an exponent of e 0.80, where e is the base of the natural logarithms.
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Experiments in Finding Online Maps
Search engines are a window to the Internet information landscape It is the way people come to know the resources available through the Internet If a resource is not available through a search engine, it essentially does not exist.
2001 Experiment
Over 100 first year college students in groups of 25 Pentium III, 500Mhz computers, 256 MB Instructed to find three maps:
Map of Africa by country Map of Africa by country in PDF format A street map that shows where they live
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Results
Map of Africa by country
Map of Africa by country in PDF format
found in 16 – 45 seconds > 28 seconds; most >40 seconds
A street map that shows where they live
About 1/3 had never made such a map Interactive mapping sites not easy to find with search engines.
Africa Map
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2005 Finding Maps Update
Pentium 4, 2.4 Ghz, 512 MB Map of Africa by country
Map of Africa by country in PDF format
10 - 30 seconds 40 – 75 seconds
A street map that shows where they live
Everyone had used one of these sites. Map completed in under 45 seconds.
Finding Hypermedia Maps
Self-test & group test Defined search strings:
Maps Hypermedia Africa Maps Multimedia Africa Maps Pictures Africa Maps Sound Africa Maps Movies Africa Maps Flash Africa
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Results Google Search Text
Sites with Maps in top 20
Sites with Pictures of Africa in top 20
Sites other Media of Africa in top 20
Maps Hypermedia Africa
I
I
Maps Multimedia Africa
IIII IIII
III
II
Maps Pictures Africa
II
II
I
Maps Sound Africa
II
IIII
I (bird songs)
Maps Movies Africa
IIII
Flash Africa
IIII
Hypermedia Maps
II
III
III
II
Hypermedia Map Search
Pictures & maps were the most common
Searching for maps & sound produced maps & pictures
The only hypermedia maps were found with “Flash Africa” Most people would not know the meaning of Flash, or associate it with interactive maps.
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Journeys through the Information Landscape
the landscape of information that we traverse when we venture into a hypermedia environment information landscape that most people experience is the one presented by search engines Some estimate that search engines have only indexed a third of all web pages.
How Search Engines Work
web robot or a spider 1) 2)
words are entered into a special index other links are found for later traversing
prioritize index
Number of times pages are linked “importance” of page making the link Smaller pages given a preference Meta tag text money
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Five Major Problems 1.
Cost of crawling: Crawling the web is very expensive and timetimeconsuming, requiring a major investment in computer and human capital.
2.
Crawlers are dumb: Crawlers are simple programs that have little ability to determine the quality or appropriateness of a web page, page, or whether it is a page that changes frequently and should be rere-crawled on a timely basis.
3.
Poor user skills: Most searchers rarely take advantage of the advanced limiting and control functions that all search engines offer.
4.
Quick and dirty results: “Internet Time” requires a fast if not always thorough, response. A slower, more deliberate, search engine engine would not gain user acceptance although it might lead to better results.
5.
Bias towards text: Search engines are highly optimized to index text. For nonnon-text pages, such as images, audio, or streaming media files, the search engine can do little more than record filename and location details.
Media Search Engines
Image search (Google, Yahoo)
Video search (Yahoo)
GIF, JPEG, PNG AVI, MPEG, Quicktime, Windows Media, Real
Collection-based: Corbis
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Map Search Engine
Distinguishing maps from pictures Determining map content in other file types Authors self-define map content Categories: static, interactive, animated, hypermedia
Marketing
Existing hypermedia maps from National Geographic
Promoting print publications
Envisioning a hypermedia map house
Analogous to map houses of the 1500s in the port cities of Europe Incorporate the latest in mapping and multimedia technology Develop loyal following
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Workable model of Internet Marketing
Subscription service
Apples iTunes
Music, Google’s Keyhole 99 cent model Copying becomes more of a hassle than it’s worth Milestone in electronic commerce Selling maps by components may not work
Implicit in the idea of intellectual property rights
authors need to “be compensated with money lest their creative incentive whither”
Conclusion
Hypermedia maps are hard to find
People aren’t exposed to, thus don’t see the advantage of combining maps with other forms of media
Hypermedia is not a good word for search engines
Understood in a limited academic world Not an effective google term What is the future of academic terms?
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Challenge we face
Not in finding new ways to incorporate media with maps But, finding a way to market, distribute, hypermedia maps
and displace firmly entrenched static maps
Otherwise, hypermedia maps will remain an academic curiosity
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