“Off the beaten map”: Navigating with digital maps on moorland

Smith, Thomas Aneurin; Laurier, Eric; Reeves, Stuart; Dunkley, Ria Ann

Abstract

The information, practices and views in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). © 2019 Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Resources made available through the digital map app change, but do not replace, the skills of “ordinary wayfinding.” Looking at the challenges of wayfinding with new mobile devices helps inform the development of digital mapping tools for navigating through difficult terrain. With this background in mind, in this paper we consider how the contemporary navigational resources of mobile devices with GPS, and the resources of countryside landscape features, are brought together in visiting a tourist site. We analyse video data from groups walking across unfamiliar moorland terrain, following a guide and map app which takes them on a tour of a remote Roman marching camp in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales. Following an ethnomethodological and conversation analytic approach, we examine three instances of navigational work for paired walkers as they traverse the moorland. The three fragments are of: an orientational struggle to establish where to go next; a routine check to select a path; and the discovery of a feature mentioned in the guide. Across the three episodes we explicate how our walkers make sense of the guide and map in relation to investigating the moorland surface. We examine how their ambulatory and undulatory practices on the moorland are tied to their wayfinding practices. While we analyse wayfinding talk, we also attend to the mobile practices of stopping and pausing as part of practical navigational reasoning.

Citation

Smith, T. A., Laurier, E., Reeves, S., & Dunkley, R. A. (2019). “Off the beaten map”: Navigating with digital maps on moorland. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12336

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 9, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Aug 12, 2019
• Publication Date: Aug 12, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jan 14, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 13, 2021
• Journal: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
• Print ISSN: 0020-2754
• Electronic ISSN: 1475-5661
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12336
• Keywords: Earth-Surface Processes; Geography, Planning and Development
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2603157
• Publisher URL: https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tran.12336
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Smith, TA, Laurier, E, Reeves, S, Dunkley, RA. “Off the beaten map”: Navigating with digital maps on moorland. Trans Inst Br Geogr. 2019; which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12336. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.