A Gamification-Based Approach on Indoor Wayfinding Research

Dries De Leeuw,Laure De Cock,Philippe De Maeyer

doi:10.3390/ijgi9070423

Dries De Leeuw, Laure De Cock + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi9070423

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Abstract

Indoor environments can be very complex. Due to the challenges in these environments in combination with the absence of mobile wayfinding aids, a great need exists for innovative research on indoor wayfinding. In this explorative study, a game was developed in Unity to investigate whether the concept of gamification could be used in studies on indoor wayfinding so as to provide useful information regarding the link between wayfinding performance, personal characteristics, and building layout. Results show a significant difference between gamers and non-gamers as the complexity of the player movement has an important impact on the navigation velocity in the game. However, further analysis reveals that the architectural layout also has an impact on the navigation velocity and that wrong turns in the game are influenced by the landmarks at the decision points: navigating at deeper decision points in convex spaces is slower and landmarks of the categories pictograms and infrastructural were more effective in this particular building. Therefore, this explorative study, which provides an approach for the use of gamification in indoor wayfinding research, has shown that serious games could be successfully used as a medium for data acquisition related to indoor wayfinding in a virtual environment.

Highlights

Buildings are typically characterized by a much smaller scale level and a higher degree of detail compared to outdoor environments
The results show there was no significant difference in the proportion of wrong turns between the groups (Table 4)
No significant difference was found in the proportions of wrong turns over the number of participants in the groups based on questions 1 (i.e., Do you often have trouble with indoor wayfinding?) and 2 (i.e., Do you often play video games?)

Summary

Introduction

Buildings are typically characterized by a much smaller scale level and a higher degree of detail compared to outdoor environments. Big data create opportunities and challenges for a data analysis with the aim of acquiring useful information for various purposes. One of these purposes is wayfinding research, in particular in the indoor wayfinding domain. In this domain, a new possibility for data acquisition has recently emerged, called gamification. A new possibility for data acquisition has recently emerged, called gamification This technique includes a relatively new concept that is defined as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts [1]. The use of gamification for indoor wayfinding, is still in its initial phase, requiring more research on its opportunities in scientific studies

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