Students’ Strategies of Familiarisation with a General-Reference Map of an Unknown Area

This study investigates the strategies used by 20 upper-secondary students to familiarize themselves with an unknown general-reference map. A one-minute familiarization phase during an eye-tracking experiment, followed by a questionnaire, examined how students processed key map elements. Students focused mainly on textual labels, particularly settlement names, while devoting less attention to structural features such as terrain or rivers. They also verified familiar legend symbols, indicating deliberate and controlled attention. Although their behavior showed intentionality, students tended to overlook structural relations within the map, suggesting a need for instructional guidance and more intuitive map design beneficial to both educators and cartographers.