Decision Sciences Journal
Volume 30, Number 1
Winter 1999
Presenting Geographic Information: Effects of Data Aggregation,
Dispersion, and Users’ Spatial Orientation
Morgan Swink
Michigan State University, Department of Marketing and Supply
Chain Management, The Eli Broad College of Business, East Lansing,
MI 48824, swinkm@pilot.msu.edu
Cheri Speier
Michigan State University, School of Accounting, The Eli Broad
College of Business, East Lansing, MI 48824, cspeier@pilot.msu.edu
ABSTRACT. Geographic information systems (GIS) have
taken on an increasingly important role supporting decision making
in many organizations. GIS have been used to support a breadth
of tasks including oil and mineral exploration, facility location,
logistics support, and facilities management decisions. The effectiveness
of GIS as a decision support tool comes primarily from the visual
display of data in the form of maps. When presenting information
as a geographic map, the level of data aggregation potentially
affects aspects of task complexity such as information load and
the potential for pattern recognition by the user. Other task
attributes expected to be related to data aggregation effects
include problem size, the degree of data dispersion, and users’
spatial orientation skills.
We conducted an experiment to study these effects and their
interactions. Subjects used a GIS including map-based information
characterized by different levels of problem size, data dispersion,
and data aggregation. Spatial orientation skill was examined
as a covariate in the experimental treatments. The results indicate
that all of these geographic information characteristics have
significant impacts on decision performance. Moreover, many interactions
are present among the factors. We evaluate these interactions
in order to derive implications for practice and for future research.
Subject Areas: Decision Support Systems, Geographic
Information Systems, and Problem Complexity. |