Usability Evaluation of Interactive Cartographic Visualisations by means of Eye-tracking

Interactive cartographic visualisations have become a common means of communicating spatial information on the web.Their usability, however, is influenced not only by the cartographic design of the visual representation but also by users' interactive behaviour as they explore the interface.Understanding how users visually attend to map elements and how they interact with interactive controls is therefore essential for evaluating and improving such systems.In recent years, eye-tracking has become an important empirical method in cartographic research for investigating visual attention and cognitive processes during map use.Nevertheless, the application of eye-tracking in studies of interactive cartographic visualisations still raises methodological questions related to experimental design, data interpretation, and the integration of complementary evaluation methods (Vanicek et al., 2026).This contribution presents the methodological framework and main findings of a doctoral dissertation that investigated the usability of interactive cartographic visualisations using eye-tracking.The research combined theoretical and empirical approaches within the field of cognitive cartography and human-map interaction.The overall aim of the dissertation was to evaluate the usability of selected interactive cartographic products and to formulate methodological and practical recommendations for their assessment.