Basing Non-Linear Displays on Vector Map Formats

Abstract

One approach to increasing the area coverage of small-screen map displays is to exploit the ‘elasticity’ of the electronic display through use of non-linear scaling. Although resolution is necessarily lost in areas of smaller scale, bitmap images lose important information when re- scaled. This can render features unrecognisable and text unreadable. Vector maps are more tolerant to non-linear scaling because critical position information found in vertices of lines is distorted without being lost. Examples of non-linear scaling are presented to demonstrate the effect on bitmap and vector images. Ongoing research examining the user performance benefits of non-linear displays is also described.