The use of cartographic representations in 3D views combines the advantages of technological computers for the handling and storage of spatial data. However, the cartographic knowledge needed to build these representations did not follow the technological development. As a consequence there are not general principles of map design for 3D maps. A common use task with 3D maps is the virtual navigation, which can be defined as the process whereby a person determines its position relative to other elements of the landscape and uses this knowledge to bearing him/herself to other locations. However, determination of relative orientation is not a trivial task in virtual environments. For this, some navigation aids are proposed in the literature, usually based on analogies of electronic tools used to navigate in real environments. This paper evaluates the influence of some of these metaphors in the guidance ability to comply with the geographic task navigation. For this, we developed a testing methodology that combines qualitative think-aloud method and evaluation by questionnaires. The result is an effective procedure to identify the elements of representation used as reference.
3D Maps; cartography tests; 3D navigation
