Blue whale street art as a landmark: Extracting landmarks from children's cognitive maps for the design of locative systems

Abstract

In this paper, we present design implications for the creation of digital maps in the context of wayfinding systems for children. In the process, we engaged 70 children in drawing the cognitive maps of their journey from home to school. Conducted in 2017, the study involved fifth-grade students (9-12 years old), at three different public schools in Funchal, Portugal. This paper offers reflections on their drawings and the resulting implications for the design of geographic technologies for children. Our contribution consists in highlighting ten types of landmarks extracted from children's 'maps' clustered into four categories, namely: Newness, Cultural personalization, Infrastructure, and Natural Landscapes.