Where would you locate this city on the map? An analysis of the representations of Lleida Province among Catalan University students

Abstract

The ability to accurately locate a city, landform or provincial boundary on a map is an illustrative form to check the degree of knowledge of a certain territory. The study presented here develops an analysis of this issue using the responses to a test of 170 Catalan students. The research project had collected information about which place names of Lleida Province have being more easily identified by these students. Moreover, it has been studied the ability to locate these place names in a map and the degree of knowledge of the provincial boundaries. The results show that the knowledge of place names is focused on county capitals. In addition, it is observed a significant lack of knowledge about the effective location of main cities and, secondly, a vague idea of the provincial boundaries. These results lead to a double reflection. Firstly, it highlights the shortcomings of education in this subject. Secondly, it helps understanding the reasons that conduce to a greater recognition of certain areas of the province instead of others.

Keywords: mapping the area, city image, students, Lleida, Catalonia.