“Just Follow the Lights”: A Ubiquitous Framework for Low-Cost, Mixed Fidelity Navigation in Indoor Built Environments

Abstract

Indoor navigation is an important daily task in a variety of contexts (e.g., offices, hospitals, airports). However, navigational ease is not always considered when buildings are designed, making wayfinding a difficult and frustrating experience. Moreover, existing solutions are expensive, highly specialized, or both. In this work, we examine how a system of connected low-cost displays designed as an open API can be leveraged to guide users to their destinations quickly, easily, and with minimal cognitive load. Following a formative survey (N=58), we designed: (i) a system of linked, low-fidelity indicators, (ii) a novel map ingestion mechanism for quick and easy deployment, and (iii) a framework for controlling and interacting with an ecosystem of mixed-fidelity devices. We then evaluated our system through a controlled user experiment (N=18) that explores the impact of indicator density and route complexity on performance. Our work shows low-cost embedded indicators can improve indoor navigational experiences by delivering many of the same benefits as more costly solutions, we argue that such indicators would complement existing navigational solutions in a mixed-fidelity ecosystem, and we discuss use-cases as well as design recommendations for deploying similar systems.