mapmaking patterns

The built structure of the environment (and people’s interaction with this structure through personal patterns of activity) can strongly influence the mental maps that people use for wayfinding tasks. Important elements of these mental maps include landmarks, districts, paths, edges and nodes.

Elicit mental images from people that live in the area that you are mapping in order to identify the features of the landscape that function as these elements. Alternatively (or additionally), visit the area that you are mapping in order to identify these kinds of features.