NAVIGATION IN SPACE, TIME AND TOPIC Interdependencies of Spatial, Temporal and Thematic Navigation in 2D Interactive Maps By Example of a European Map of Cultural Heritage

As GISystems become more mature and spatial research questions more complex, time is regarded as a crucial component to GIS data models. Cartographic visualization can be one useful method of presenting dynamic spatial data and visualizing changes over time, hence assisting the study of spatio-temporal patterns and phenomena. The rise of interactive mapping applications, together with the growing demand to incorporate time in GIS, however, fuel the need for efficient navigation tools in space, time and topic. This paper summarizes the current results of an ongoing PhD work that contributes in the following areas: Study of the effects that changes in one of the dimensions should trigger on the navigation and visualization of the dependent dimensions, compilation of a taxonomy of spatiotemporal and thematic questions, in order to understand how navigation tools can assist in answering these questions and development of a sophisticated user interface for thematic navigation in space and time by creating a prototype of a european map of cultural heritage