Spatial Preposition Use in Indoor Scene Descriptions

Abstract

GIScience 2016 Short Paper Proceedings Spatial Preposition Use in Indoor Scene Descriptions S. A. Doore, M.K. Beard, N.A. Giudice Spatial Informatics, School of Computing and Information Science, University of Maine Email: {stacy.doore@maine.edu, beard@spatial,maine.edu, nicholas.giudice@maine.edu} Abstract In order to provide accurate automated scene description and navigation directions for indoor space, human beings need intelligent systems to provide an effective cognitive model. Information provided by the structure and use of spatial prepositions is critical to the development of accurate and effective cognitive models. Unfortunately, the use and choice of spatial prepositions in natural language is extremely varied, presenting difficulties for natural language systems attempting to provide descriptions of indoor scenes and wayfinding directions. The goal of the present study is to better understand how humans use spatial prepositions to communicate spatial relationships within virtual environment (VE) indoor scenes. A series of experiments investigates spatial preposition use and the influence scale, topology, orientation and distance within indoor scene descriptions and preliminary results are reported. 1. Introduction Humans perceive and represent information differently for indoor spaces than they do for outdoor spaces (Guidice, Walton and Worboys 2010). Indoor spaces usually lack established distance and direction metrics, global landmarks, explicit route-networks, and cover a range of spatial scales from small rooms to large airports (Winter 2012). Our interest is in creating an indoor spatial description system to assist navigation in indoor environments. This research investigates natural language (NL) structures for describing objects and structural features within vista scale (Montello 1993) virtual environment (VE) indoor scene descriptions. We examine how spatial preposition choice may vary in different contextual settings and which spatial prepositions might yield more effective spatial representations with an increased ability to support spatial behaviors (e.g., object location and navigation). This paper describes early work investigating how spatial factors such as room size, scene elements, and object/structure relationships impact spatial preposition use and semantics for indoor scene descriptions. Previous research has found these same variables of topology, scale, orientation and distance impact spatial preposition use in geographic and table top spatial settings. The current study focuses specifically on vista scale VE scenes (i.e., 10’by 12’ and 20’ by 30’) that one might encounter in common built environments (e.g., home, business, or school size rooms). 2. Motivation Consider two spatial expressions describing the same indoor scene: Speaker 1: “The bookcase is against the wall, beyond the table, just to your left.” Speaker 2: “The bookcase is to the left of the window, directly in front of you.” In both cases, the speakers use the bookcase as the focus of the spatial description, however, the statements differ in how the bookcase is spatially situated in the scene. The first speaker uses the wall as the primary spatial landmark, whereas, the second speaker uses the window.