[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-236178-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":80,"doc-detail-236178-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","design-principles-for-origin-destination-flow-maps","Design Principles for Origin-Destination Flow Maps","","Origin-destination flow maps are difficult to interpret when multiple flows overlap. Cartographers’ design guidance for reducing overlap and improving readability is formalized through a quantitative content analysis of 97 geographic origin-destination flow maps with non-branching flows. Effectiveness of selected principles is then tested in a user study with 215 participants. Results indicate that curved flows outperform straight ones, arrowheads communicate direction better than tapered widths, and node-to-node flows are more effective than area-to-area flows. Synthesizing evidence yields a set of practical layout rules.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/","Template",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/","General",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/design-principles-for-origin-destination-flow-maps/236178/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/design-principles-for-origin-destination-flow-maps/236178.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Gelato","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-20","2026-09-11",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":30},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"Why are origin-destination flow maps hard to read?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"They often contain overlapping flows, which create visual clutter and can lead to misunderstandings.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"What design principles show the strongest performance in the study?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"Curved flows are more effective than straight flows, arrowheads indicate direction better than tapered line widths, and flows between nodes outperform flows between areas.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"How were the design principles derived and validated?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"They were identified and documented using a quantitative content analysis of 97 non-branching origin-destination flow maps, and then tested through a user study with 215 participants.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},236178,1789103460,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,88,93,98,103,108,113,118,123],{"id":84,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},11,"Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":89,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":94,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":99,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":104,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":109,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":114,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":119,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":124,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":125},158,"general-158",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":127},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":128,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":22,"category_id":124,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":30,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":99,"language":135,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":136,"faqs":137,"seo_title":138,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":79,"read_time":121},19241457091524,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Design principles for origin-destination flow maps  \nBernhard Jenny a,b, Daniel M. Stephen b, Ian Muehlenhaus c, Brooke E. Marstonb, Ritesh Sharma d, Eugene Zhangd and Helen Jennyb  \naSchool of Science, Geospatial Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia; bCollege of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA; cDepartment of Geography, University of Wisconsin Madison, USA; dSchool of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA  \nABSTRACT  \nOrigin-destination flow maps are often difficult to read due to overlapping flows. Cartographershave developed design principles in manual cartography for origin-destination flow maps to reduce overlaps and increase readability. These design principles are identified and documented using a quantitative content analysis of 97 geographic origin-destination flow maps without branching or merging flows. The effectiveness of selected design principles is verified in a user study with 215 participants. Findings show that (a) curved flows are more effective than straight flows, (b) arrows indicate direction more effectively than tapered line widths, and (c) flows between nodes are more effective than flows between areas. These findings, combined with results from user studies in graph drawing, conclude that effective and efficient origin-destination flow maps should be designed according to the following design principles: overlaps between flows are minimized; symmetric flows are preferred to asymmetric flows; longer flows are curved more than shorter or peripheral flows; acute angles between crossing flows are avoided; sharp bends in flow lines are avoided; flows do not pass under unconnected nodes; flows are radially distributed around nodes; flow direction is indicated with arrowheads; and flow width is scaled with represented quantity.  \nARTICLE HISTORY  \nReceived 11 September 2016 Accepted 15 November 2016  \nKEYWORDS  \nOrigin-destination flow maps; movement mapping; graph drawing; cartographic design principles; aesthetic criteria; map design  \n1. Introduction  \nFlow maps visualize movement using a static image and demonstrate not only which places have been affected by movement but also the direction and volume of movement. Design principles for flow maps are largely based on expert intuition and aesthetic considerations (Dent, Torguson, & Hodler, 2009; Imhof, 1972; Slocum, McMaster, Kessler, & Howard, 2009) .  \nThis article focuses on origin-destination flow maps. An origin-destination flow map shows flows between nodes or areas. The geometry of the flows is either unknown or not important for the visualization. We limit this research to non-branching origin-destination flow maps. Although there are no empirical user studies conducted by cartographers on which to base flow map design decisions, the graph drawing community has identified aesthetic criteria relevant to the creation of node-link diagrams (Gibson, Faith, & Vickers, 2013; Purchase, Pilcher, & Plimmer, 2012) . Graph drawing research aims to develop methods for the two-dimensional representation of graphs. The challenge of representing a graph – a set of nodes connected by edges – is  \nrelated to the problem of mapping origin-destination flows for two reasons. First, origin-destination flows form a graph; the starts and ends of flows are the nodes and the flows are the connecting edges. Second, in both graph drawings and origin-destination flow maps, the geometry of links does not need to be accurately represented, but should be adjusted for optimal readability. User studies in graph drawing have evaluated a multitude of design options, also known as aesthetic criteria, which are relevant for cartographic origin-destination flow maps. However, only some of the aesthetic criteria from graph drawing are applicable to flow maps because unlike node-link diagrams, the position of geographic nodes in flow maps typically cannot be adjusted.  \nAs flow data ","cbCaiu4ZiyGDVD3A","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiu4ZiyGDVD3A","pdf",2957501,"English","# Introduction\n## Flow map purpose and challenges\n## Research focus and scope\n# Related work\n## Cartographic design principles for flow maps\n# Methods\n## Quantitative content analysis\n## User study evaluation\n# Findings and design principles","[{\"question\":\"Why are origin-destination flow maps hard to read?\",\"answer\":\"They often contain overlapping flows, which create visual clutter and can lead to misunderstandings.\"},{\"question\":\"What design principles show the strongest performance in the study?\",\"answer\":\"Curved flows are more effective than straight flows, arrowheads indicate direction better than tapered line widths, and flows between nodes outperform flows between areas.\"},{\"question\":\"How were the design principles derived and validated?\",\"answer\":\"They were identified and documented using a quantitative content analysis of 97 non-branching origin-destination flow maps, and then tested through a user study with 215 participants.\"}]","Design Principles for Origin-Destination Flow Maps | PDF"]