Peculiarities of urban spatial cognition. A pilot study on the relationship of quantitative elements of mental maps and perceived success in navigation

Authors

  • Dóra Hegyesi Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Department of Regional Studies, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

Abstract

During a single-event pilot data collection participants (n=48) were asked to draw their mental maps both in the style of Milgram (Milgram and Jodelet, 1970) and Lynch (1960), and to fill out a background survey and the Santa Barbara Sense of Direction Scale (Hegarty et al., 2002). This study focuses on the quantitative analysis of the Milgram style mental maps (Milgram and Jodelet, 1970), which relies solely on landmarks, the sense of direction scale results, and the background survey is included. The study is a pilot, with the aim of exploring the combined potential of the aforementioned tools. The results suggest that there is a correlation between one’s sense of direction and the inner well-structuredness of their mental map. It can also be stated that the way someone travels in a city and the opportunities for observing the environment affects the detailedness of their mental (and probably cognitive) maps, specifically the number of landmarks shown. In addition, the elements of the mental maps might imply that using only landmarks is a less organic mental mapping method compared to Lynch’s method which uses five element types. However, due to the small sample size the results cannot be seen as representative, and to validate these results a data collection with a bigger sample should be made, with a possibly more elaborate background survey.

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Published

2026-05-19

Issue

Vol. 1 (2026)

Section

Mapping societies (ed. by Laura Lo Presti and Matteo Marconi)

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