Orientation competence, the ability to determine one's location and heading direction, stands as one of the most fundamental skills. Maps are important for navigators providing spatial orientation. Researchers have investigated navigational map reading competence, wayfinding strategies, and performance in many experiments facing similar challenges to assess navigation behaviour in real and virtual environments. GeoGami is a free and open-source research software tailored for training and evaluating map-reading competence in navigational studies. Our software supports the assessment and training of sub-competencies of navigational map-reading through tasks tailored towards a specific sub-competency. We explain the unique design of the GeoGami, supporting diverse setups of navigational experiments while systematically assessing the performance. Our key contribution lies in demonstrating how theoretically defined navigational map-reading competencies can be implemented in GPS-enabled software and how systematically designed research software can effectively harness the diverse capabilities of digital maps and location-based systems for research and training purposes.

Sketch mapping is a method used to investigate an individual's cognitive map of the surrounding environment. Sketch maps provide qualitative insights into individuals' mental representations of space. Thus, sketch mapping is a powerful approach to study how people perceive and organize spatial information in their minds, Although the method of sketch mapping is used in numerous experiments to investigate people's spatial knowledge, there is no comprehensive method to analyze sketch maps. Most methods are quantitative and limited to counting features or determining the (metric) spatial distortion in sketch maps. Human spatial knowledge is incomplete, generalized and schematic. So are sketch maps. Our sketch map analysis method SketchMapia evaluates the completeness, level of generalization, and qualitative spatial accuracy of a sketch map. Our approach can assist researchers in psychology, cognitive science, geography, and education in systematically evaluating people's spatial knowledge via sketch maps, independent of specific research questions and experimental scenarios.

Computer-based navigation aids support navigation by foregrounding route instructions. Using those aids can have detri-mental effects on the ability to orient oneself without assistance. Rather than providing allocentric spatial informationin the form of conventional maps, navigation aids may support another form of human spatial memory that is essen-tially egocentric. In the present study, visualizations for navigation assistance systems were experimentally varied usinga virtual environment. Effects on wayfinding success and orientation after navigation were investigated. Results showthat dynamic, user-aligned views during navigation (providing spatial directional information to unseen targets) reducedthe risk of making erroneous turning decision during navigation and improved orientation after navigation, in contrast toview-independent representations with a stable north-aligned coordinate system. It is concluded that user-aligned viewscan facilitate the acquisition of egocentric survey knowledge while avoiding representational conflicts during navigation.