Improving the controllability of tilt interaction for mobile map-based applications

Abstract

This article proposes enhanced techniques for improving the controllability of tilt interaction. Tilt interaction offers an intuitive, one-handed form of interaction for mobile applications. Tilt interaction is particularly well-suited to mobile map-based applications, where traditional mobile interaction techniques suffer from several shortcomings. Current implementations of tilt interaction, however, suffer from several shortcomings. Existing zooming techniques used in conjunction with tilt interaction are often difficult to control. Tilt-controlled panning can also be difficult to control in a mobile context of use, where the user's walking motion affects the accuracy of tilt interaction. The use of rate-controlled tilt interaction to perform zooming is proposed. Two different approaches to sensitivity adaptation are investigated, where the sensitivity of tilt-controlled panning is automatically adjusted to compensate for the user's current context of use. A usability study was conducted with thirty participants to evaluate the proposed techniques. The results of the usability study showed that tilt zooming offered better efficiency, user satisfaction and perceived workload than gesture zooming. The use of a static dampening factor to compensate for walking motion was found to provide actual and perceived controllability improvements.