Abstract
Hierarchical place descriptions are a common means for people to communicate about place. Within them hierarchically ordered elements are linked by explicit or implicit relationships. This study analyses place descriptions collected in a mobile game, investigating hierarchies based on a classification of spatial granularity. The main findings show a dominance of hierarchical structures in place descriptions, but also a considerable number of deviations. Deviations are explained by principles other than spatial granularity, such as the presence of salient features and other construction principles. We conclude the need for and significance of more flexible models of hierarchies in the interaction with users of location-based services.
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Notes
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Salience refers to outstanding perceptual or semantic properties of a feature, while prominence refers to the degree of shared knowledge about a feature in a community. While the two terms are not synonymous it can be expected that salient features over time also become prominent. In this chapter no strict distinction is needed; mostly, the term salience will be used. For example, the Eiffel Tower is a salient feature because of its unique pyramid-shaped, metal skeleton construction that is very different from the rest of the buildings in Paris. However, it has also become one of France’s most prominent (or well-known) features, and certainly a feature that is associated with Paris. Therefore, it can be used as an anchor point of place descriptions in the city of Paris. However, it has also become one of France’s most prominent (or well-known) features, and certainly a feature that is associated with Paris. Therefore, it can be used as an anchor-point of place descriptions in the city of Paris.
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http://gate.ac.uk, implemented in Java
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The authors acknowledge support by the Australian Research Council (LP100200199), and wish to thank anonymous reviewers for comments that helped to improve the chapter.
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Richter, D., Vasardani, M., Stirlng, L., Richter, KF., Winter, S. (2013). Zooming In–Zooming Out Hierarchies in Place Descriptions. In: Krisp, J. (eds) Progress in Location-Based Services. Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34203-5_19
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