But the top map... Looking at that, I seriously began to wonder if I had Alzheimer's or something...
UPDATE: Great comments below explain what is going on.
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I've seen many maps like that. What I think is that "up" in the map is the orientation you are facing when reading the map, so it would be easier to orient
ReplyDeleteThat will get you every time. The orientation of the map is can be inconsistent. The only thing you can count on is that N is usually not at the top.
ReplyDeleteThe orientation of MRT maps is always north. North in reality, which means a map on one side of the station is oriented differently from one on the other side. So always fine the north wall and look at that map.
ReplyDeleteThey're actually oriented to display the way you are cutrrently facing. So, where you need to go forward and right on the map is also forward and right in front of you as well.
ReplyDeleteThe station area maps are confusing, but not without method: up is the direction you are facing. The conceit works better in the elevated stations.
ReplyDeleteI thought I was the only one that noticed this. WTF were they thinking? I guess to much Kaoliong in the map dept.
ReplyDeleteSomething else the MRT should do, especially in the main station, is to put a small colorful visual sticker of what is on that line for easy reference.
For example, the line going to Panchaio can have the a small photo of the LungShan Temple posted next to the name of the stop. The line going to Kuangyang (?) maybe has a sticker of the SYS Memorial Hall. Etc. This way when you are rushing to catch a train, you jump on the one that is going in the direction you are going.
It's actually an ingenious system that very few people seem to get.
ReplyDeleteIn Taipei's MRT, each and every map is adjusted in such a way that it corresponds to the direction you are facing when standing in front of it. So you immediately know "I have to turn left" or "Behind me!"
Makes sense if you know it. Really.
In a great many MRT and KMRT stations, north isn't at the top of the maps. The one you saw isn't unique by any means. After repeated lobbying by me and some other folk, we got the KMRT to stick scales on their maps, so people could at least see if the places on the maps were within walking distance or not.
ReplyDeleteDoes it have to do with the direction you're standing in when you're looking at the sign?
ReplyDeleteIt's actually an ingenious system that very few people seem to get.
ReplyDeleteIf your system is intended for mass use, but few people get it, then it is a really stupid system.
Literally, I had a mini-crisis looking at the map with east-west flipped. For a moment I honestly thought I'd had a stroke or something -- couldn't make it match the Google map in my tablet. My whole life I've navigated simply by always knowing where north is.
Michael
The alignment of maps to fit the in-situ orientation of readers is a design intended to reduce the degree of mental rotation required in comparing the map to their in-situ orientation. Whilst this may make maps easier to understand for those challenged by mental rotation, it actually makes maps more confusing for those who can do mental rotation and are primed to read maps assuming a "north at the top" plan-view.
ReplyDeleteSince reaction times to mental rotation tasks are negatively correlated with IQ scores, the assumption must be that people using these maps are likely to be a bit thick. Whether this assumption is justified or not is another matter, but I do remember once being stunned when someone asked me if I had used a map to find my way from Kenting to Hualien.
[b]If your system is intended for mass use, but few people get it, then it is a really stupid system. [/b]
ReplyDeleteNo, it's a smart system to make the mass stupid.
Mike Fagan, I don't think it is an IQ issue. Taiwanese navigate by landmarks, regardless of IQ.
ReplyDeleteNor do I really believe the mapmakers got the orientation thing right, if that indeed was their goal. The topmost map has east and west reversed. There is no conceivable orientation I could be in when I am standing facing north and have east be on my left. The map makers simply blew that, totally, and produced gibberish.
It did explain for me why I got so totally lost the first time I went out of Minquan Station. I had used their maps....
Michael
In a great many MRT and KMRT stations, north isn't at the top of the maps. The one you saw isn't unique by any means. After repeated lobbying by me and some other folk, we got the KMRT to stick scales on their maps, so people could at least see if the places on the maps were within walking distance or not
ReplyDeleteThanks. It's sad to hear that they are common, but good to know they are open to some ideas.
Michael
"Taiwanese navigate by landmarks, regardless of IQ."
ReplyDeleteAnd how do you actually know that? Google is not always your friend, by the way.
IIRC from my undergraduate days, there are fairly robust sex differences: women tend to use egocentric strategies and men tend to use allothetic strategies. But I don't know of any research specifically on Taiwanese.
The point I was making was not that Taiwanese are stupid, but that the map-designer seems to have made that assumption in designing maps so as to eliminate the need for mental rotation. So if anyone is stupid it is the map designer, which as you say...
"There is no conceivable orientation I could be in when I am standing facing north and have east be on my left."
... would seem to indicate somebody who doesn't know what he/she is doing.