The effects of electronic map displays and spatial ability on performance of navigational tasks

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One aspect of electronic map displays that has been under examination since their invention is the effect of map configuration, i.e., rotating, track-up vs. fixed, north-up maps, on different navigational tasks. Research has shown that people perform some navigation tasks better with track-up maps, and other navigation tasks better with north-up maps. In the current experiment ( N = 16), we investigated how the performance of three common navigation tasks performed as part of an aerial reconnaissance simulation (i.e., cardinal direction judgments, route following and map memory) were affected by an interface factor, map configuration (track-up vs. north-up), and by an individual differences factor, differences in spatial ability. The cardinal direction judgment and route following tasks showed improved accuracy with the track-up map configuration; whereas the map reconstruction task was better facilitated by the north-up map configuration. Spatial abilities were also associated with differences in performance on the three navigation tasks. Spatial abilities and the map-configuration manipulation showed similar strength of association with navigation performance (similar effect size).