Wayfinding Experience Research Articles

A lean approach to enhance the visual experience during wayfinding in the emergency department spaces: a case study of a large-scale general hospital in China

ABSTRACT The wayfinding experience in the healthcare environment significantly impacts patients’ spatial cognition, mental health, and medical outcomes. However, patients often face challenges in wayfinding, encountering difficulties, and information gaps that result in negative emotions and decreased efficiency of medical services. This study proposes a Lean-led approach, coupled with eye-tracking simulation software analysis, to investigate the visual behavior of patients in the emergency department spaces and identify areas in medical environments that require improvement. The research methodology involves capturing images of 70 location nodes along the patient's route in ED spaces. Subsequently, the Lean tool, Value Stream Mapping, is employed to analyze the wayfinding process, dividing it into eight tasks and determining the visual information needs of patients during wayfinding. Moreover, the eye-tracking simulation software, 3M-VAS, is utilized to analyze the visual content of images and compare whether it meets the information needs of patients during wayfinding, thus identifying locations that require optimization. Finally, suggestions for optimization are proposed. The study identifies five types of visual environment problems during the wayfinding process and identifies 50 location nodes that need improvement, categorized into five types of visual environment issues. This paper explores how Lean theory can enhance the relevance of a patient-centered healthcare environment and introduces a methodology that connects hospital administrators and designers. However, this paper also has some limitations, such as the research scope, method, and angle, that need more exploration.

Campus Navigation using Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

With the rapid advancement of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, there has been a growing interest in leveraging these immersive technologies for enhancing campus navigation experiences. This paper presents a research study focused on designing and implementing a campus navigation system for the Maharashtra Institute of Technology World Peace University (MIT WPU) using AR/VR technologies. The proposed system aims to provide students, faculty, and visitors with an intuitive and immersive wayfinding experience, facilitating navigation across the expansive campus grounds. The core features of the proposed campus navigation system include real-time location tracking, interactive campus maps, personalized route planning, and integration with campus services and facilities information. The AR component overlays digital navigation cues and points of interest onto the user's physical surroundings, enhancing spatial awareness and providing contextual information. The VR component offers an immersive 3D visualization of the campus environment, allowing users to explore virtual replicas of buildings, landmarks, and amenities. The research methodology involves a multi-stage process, beginning with requirements gathering through stakeholder interviews and user surveys to understand the navigation challenges faced by campus users. Based on the gathered requirements, a prototype AR/VR campus navigation application is developed, leveraging state-of-the-art AR/VR development tools and technologies

Enhancing Wayfinding Experience in Low-Vision Individuals through a Tailored Mobile Guidance Interface

Individuals with low vision (LV) face daily wayfinding challenges, struggling with route establishment, direction recognition, and obstacle avoidance. Mobile navigation, though commonly relied upon, often clashes with LV visual conditions, particularly central scotomas from diseases like age-related macular degeneration (AMD), hindering the relay of crucial wayfinding information. Addressing this, we introduced a novel guidance interface post-literature review. In a VR-based user study involving 25 participants simulating LV experience, our map guidance interface enabled quicker navigation, improving system usability and presence. The resulting performance paralleled that of normal-vision individuals. This study demonstrated that modifying familiar navigation interfaces effectively addresses visual impairment conflicts, enhancing outdoor navigation for individuals with LV. The modifications extend benefits, enabling comparable wayfinding ease to individuals with normal vision.

Optimizing University Mobility : An Internal Navigation and Crowd Management System

In the evolving landscape of educational technology, the article explores the critical frontier of indoor navigation systems, focusing on universities. Traditional approaches in higher education often fall short of meeting dynamic user expectations, necessitating revolutionary solutions. This research introduces an innovative internal navigation and crowd management system that seamlessly integrates augmented reality, natural language processing, machine learning, and image processing technologies. The Android platform serves as the foundation, harnessing augmented reality's transformative capabilities to provide real-time visual cues and personalized wayfinding experiences. The voice interaction module, backed by NLP and ML, creates an intelligent, context-aware assistant. The crowd management module, employing advanced image processing, delivers real-time crowd density insights. Personalized recommendations, powered by NLP and ML, offer tailored canteen suggestions based on user preferences. The agmented reality navigation module, using Mapbox, Unity Hub, AR Core, and Vuforia, enriches the user experience with dynamic visual cues. Results reveal the success of each module: the voice interaction module showcases continuous learning, user-centric feedback, contextual guidance excellence, robust security, and multimodal interaction flexibility. The crowd management module excels in video feed processing, image processing with OpenCV, and real-time availability information retrieval. The personalized recommendations module demonstrates high accuracy, equilibrium, and robust performance. The AR navigation module impresses with precision, enriched navigation, and tailored routes through machine learning. This cohesive system sets new benchmarks for user-centric technology in universities. Future work includes multi-university integration, intelligent spatial design, and real-time decision support, paving the way for more efficient, user-centered university experiences and contributing to the advancement of smart university environments. The research serves as a pivotal force in reshaping interactions within university spaces, envisioning a future where technology seamlessly enhances the essence of human interaction in educational environments.

Navigating the Maze: Caregivers Perception on Design Elements to Improve Wayfinding for Older Adults With Dementia in Long-Term Care Facilities.

The main purpose of this research is to understand the wayfinding experience of older adults with dementia in long-term care facilities and identifying environmental design elements that support older adults' spatial abilities. Wayfinding problems are the earliest symptoms of dementia, and older adults with cognitive impairment are more likely to get lost in the community and consequences cause psychological responses such as insecurity, agitation, and falling in their environment. The research used data collected from 30 caregivers of two long-term care facilities in the Midwest through a survey and interview on their perceptions of wayfinding design elements. The research findings highlighted on caregivers' perception on wayfinding experience of older adults with dementia. The findings show a significant difference between importance and satisfaction on floor pattern and visibility in the facilities. Study indicated that glass partitions in the middle of the hall and corridor can create visual obstruction for older adults and barrier for staff as well to keep visual track on them. The qualitative study revealed that different colored doors for individual patient room in a memory care enhance older adults' wayfinding abilities. In addition, in case of multisensory stimuli, noise and smell can improve their wayfinding abilities as well. The conclusion of the study highlights the importance of understanding the design elements that can be effective in creating a safer environment for older adults with dementia.

Somaesthetics of Discomfort and Wayfinding

Somaesthetics of discomfort facilitates intentionally inclusive designed spaces for wayfinding by accounting for individuals’ distinct navigational experiences. Following the work of Richard Shusterman, somaesthetics of discomfort is a combination of somatic awareness and somaesthetic reflection centered around feeling ill-at-ease or out of place. The increased awareness of discomfort and reciprocal reflection upon feelings of discomfort enhances how activities and places are experienced, recognized, and categorized. How people experience difficult wayfinding is an element that is often missing from architectural planning and development. Considering uncomfortable somatic experiences of navigation would provide designers with tools to conceptualize and create wayfinding affordances within various spaces. Discomfort may be understood as a somatic affordance during wayfinding because it indicates that there is something problematic about the intersection of soma and environment. This paper describes wayfinding and somaesthetics as they pertain to architectural design. By using the examples of hospitals and parking garages, somaesthetics of discomfort is introduced as a tool that uses somatic appreciation and individual reflection about wayfinding experiences for improving how spaces are designed.

“Everything looks the same”: wayfinding behaviour and experiences of stroke inpatients in rehabilitation clinics

ABSTRACT Purpose To examine stroke inpatients’ real-life wayfinding behaviour and how the built environment of rehabilitation clinics might influence their behaviour and experiences. Methods Stroke inpatients in seven rehabilitation clinics were observed (n = 70), each over the course of 12 consecutive hours. Their paths through the clinic and the locations of encountered wayfinding-related events were mapped on the floor plans and described in the written notes. The observations were supplemented by a survey asking patients about their wayfinding experiences. Results For a third of observed patients, at least one wayfinding-related event was observed on the observation day, and 50% of patients reported getting lost in their clinic at least once. Most wayfinding-related events occurred between patient rooms and therapy rooms, and patients frequently relied on backtracking or the help of the staff to find their way. Clinics’ layout organization was found to play a role in the wayfinding behaviour of patients. Conclusions Wayfinding is a common challenge that stroke inpatients encounter in rehabilitation clinics. Avoiding multiple decision nodes on the paths between patient rooms and therapy rooms and creating distinct identities for corridor segments in the decision nodes and the areas in front of elevators would likely improve wayfinding performance.

IMMERSIVE VISUAL EXPERIENCE FOR WAYFINDING ANALYSIS

Abstract. The research presents a new digital approach to wayfinding analysis in immersive reality, integrated with biosensors for the interpretation of data surveyed. The three-dimensional model of the actual state of the Hall of Perugia Railway Station was realized, considering and detecting the present signage, and it was developed a specific algorithm for a multi-platform graphics engine, able to register an interaction mediated by HMD devices. Wayfinding experiences in immersive reality are developed guaranteeing to the user to move freely to complete the missions assigned. The algorithm in this phase runs in the background and records the movements of users and their pupil, saving them in a special file. In the second phase, instead, the real data processing and the subsequent representation of the collected information take place. Starting from its current state, the Station hall is transformed inserting different elements, derived by the aim of developing four scenarios, to analyse different users’ response in wayfinding. A three-dimensional heat map of visual attentions is created and the different scenarios can be valued for their impact in the user wayfinding, the results are then confronted with the neuro-analysis obtained by EEG instruments and biosensors. In this way, it is possible to value the impact of the environment and spatial orientation cues, by quantifying and qualifying the impact of the project choices.

Digital Directions:

Wayfinding in spatially complex public transit environments poses unique navigational challenges. Transfers, delays, barriers, and user capacity all influence the usability of a system. Because of the smartphone, how we navigate through these systems, and interact with the surrounding environment, is changing. The smartphone provides a spatio-temporal strategy that removes the reliance on our immediate environment and personalizes the wayfinding process -- unlike that of transit schedules, signs, and maps. How does smartphone usage influence performance and the wayfinding experience? This paper looks at smartphone usage of twelve participants through a shadowed commented walk, known as a Destination-Task Investigation, in Munich’s public transit system. The study provides insights into the role and the influence of smartphones during the wayfinding process. Furthermore, it shows that Apps providing integrated spatio-temporal information, such as Google, were used most frequently, especially for confirmation during navigation.

Interpreting spatial layouts of nursing homes based on partitioning theory

ABSTRACT With the aging world and the improvement of people’s living standards, the quality of elderly life is gaining more attention. The nursing home is an important carrier for the life of the elderly, the reasonable layout of its spaces can provide a better wayfinding experience for residents. Based on the survey of 168 Japanese nursing homes, we found that some spatial layouts are more widely used in the design of nursing homes than others. The intention of this paper is to attempt to explore the characteristics of these spatial layouts within the theoretical framework of space syntax. The expectation is to discover certain design principles that are followed when the spaces in the nursing home are arranged, seeking to contribute to a better understanding of nursing home morphology. Setting out from the spatial models established by partitioning theory research, the paper examines the impacts of the different numbers of corridors, different corridor combinations, and different spatial distribution on their subjects. The result shows that designers will consider a combination of influencing factors when designing the spatial layout of the nursing home. In terms of the number of corridor and corridor combinations, the spatial layout which facilitates the residents’ wayfinding is adopt in more nursing home plans, but in terms of spatial distribution, the plan layout of nursing homes is more focused on a balanced design. Finally, this paper analyses the design principles of spatial layout for nursing homes by using spatial syntax theory and method based on experience. It suggests that the theory and method can provide designers with a new way of thinking about understanding architectural space.

Seamless Wayfinding by a Deafblind Adult on an Urban College Campus: A Case Study on Wayfinding Performance, Information Preferences, and Technology Requirements

This article reports on an empirical evaluation of the experience, performance, and perception of a deafblind adult participant in an experimental case study on pedestrian travel in an urban environment. The case study assessed the degree of seamlessness of the wayfinding experience pertaining to routes that traverse both indoor and outdoor spaces under different modalities of technology-aided pedestrian travel. Specifically, an adult deafblind pedestrian traveler completed three indoor/outdoor routes on an urban college campus using three supplemental wayfinding support tools: a mobile application, written directions, and a tactile map. A convergent parallel mixed-methods approach was used to synthesize insights from a pre-travel questionnaire, route travel video recordings, post-travel questionnaire, and post-travel interview. Our results indicate that wayfinding performance and confidence differed considerably between the three wayfinding support tools. The tactile map afforded the most successful wayfinding and highest confidence. Wayfinding performance and confidence were lowest for the mobile application modality. The simplicity of use of a wayfinding tool is paramount for reducing cognitive load during wayfinding. In addition, information that does not match individual, user-specific information preferences and needs inhibits wayfinding performance. Current practice pertaining to the representation of digital spatial data only marginally accounts for the complexity of pedestrian human wayfinding across the gamut of visual impairment, blindness, and deafblindness. Robust orientation and mobility training and skills remain key for negotiating unexpected or adverse wayfinding situations and scenarios, irrespective of the use of a wayfinding tool. A substantial engagement of the deafblind community in both research and development is critical for achieving universal and equitable usability of mobile wayfinding technology.

On Supporting University Communities in Indoor Wayfinding: An Inclusive Design Approach.

Mobility can be defined as the ability of people to move, live and interact with the space. In this context, indoor mobility, in terms of indoor localization and wayfinding, is a relevant topic due to the challenges it presents, in comparison with outdoor mobility, where GPS is hardly exploited. Knowing how to move in an indoor environment can be crucial for people with disabilities, and in particular for blind users, but it can provide several advantages also to any person who is moving in an unfamiliar place. Following this line of thought, we employed an inclusive by design approach to implement and deploy a system that comprises an Internet of Things infrastructure and an accessible mobile application to provide wayfinding functions, targeting the University community. As a real word case study, we considered the University of Bologna, designing a system able to be deployed in buildings with different configurations and settings, considering also historical buildings. The final system has been evaluated in three different scenarios, considering three different target audiences (18 users in total): i. students with disabilities (i.e., visual and mobility impairments); ii. campus students; and iii. visitors and tourists. Results reveal that all the participants enjoyed the provided functions and the indoor localization strategy was fine enough to provide a good wayfinding experience.

Influence of Spatial Layout on Wayfinding Behaviour in Hospital Environment in Nigeria

Many studies have shown that wayfinding is affected by the familiarity of subjects with the environment. Wayfinding difficulties are caused due to the complexities of building configuration and evolving spaces that emerge over time in response to operational needs and change which results in disorientation, uncertainty, anxiety, frustration, and stress. Alarge hospital environment greatly influences the wayfinding behaviour of newcomers,which could be stressful and intimidating for them. This study explores the wayfinding behaviour of unfamiliar users in the acquisition of knowledge of the environment with the aim to improve wayfinding competence in hospitals. The study was carried out at Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), situated in the Plateau State of Nigeria.The methods used for data collection were walking-with observation, verbal protocol and a semi-structured interview.These methods indicated the participants’level of wayfinding performance during the navigation aimed to find the desired destination. The respondents, n 16 (8 male and 8 female),were purposively sampled and observed through behavioural mapping. Additionally, 24 respondents were separately interviewed in order to triangulate the findings of behavioural mapping. The findings revealed that the majority (62.5%) of respondents found the building layout complex to navigate due to their spatial similarities.Additionally, the wayfinding experience of the majority (95.8%) of respondents in the hospital was established to be difficult and stressful. Also, the result proved that 60% of female wayfinders were more prone to wayfinding errors than male wayfinders in finding their way to the desired destination due to the complexity of the building layout. The study recommends that building configuration design in hospitals should be organised in a simple way and it should be constantly reviewed as new spaces evolve.The implication calls for an improved design which remains distinctive and a well-linked layout that facilitates effective and efficient wayfinding for unfamiliar users in a safe and satisfactory manner.

Childhood wayfinding experience explains sex and individual differences in adult wayfinding strategy and anxiety

BackgroundAnyone who has ever found themselves lost while driving in an unfamiliar neighborhood or forgotten where they parked their car can appreciate the importance of being able to navigate their environment. Navigation, or wayfinding, is a large-scale spatial ability that involves keeping track of the relative positions of objects and features in space, which allows for determining the path to a goal location. Early experiences shape spatial skill development, and research finds sex differences in spatial behaviors from preschool through adulthood, with males consistently outperforming females. The basis for sex differences in spatial aptitude is still debated, but explanations include differences in childhood spatial experience, the use of strategies for solving large-scale spatial problems, and spatial anxiety. The current study seeks to understand childhood wayfinding factors that may influence sex and individual differences in wayfinding strategies and wayfinding anxiety in adulthood.MethodOne hundred fifty-nine undergraduate psychology students reported their childhood wayfinding experience (i.e., time spent outside, distance traveled), current use of wayfinding strategies (i.e., route strategy, orientation strategy), and current wayfinding anxiety and general anxiety levels.ResultsIndependent samples t tests revealed that, compared with females, males reported spending more time outside and traveling farther distances as children, having less current wayfinding anxiety and route strategy use, and having more current orientation strategy use. Mediation analyses found that distance traveled, but not time spent outdoors, during childhood mediated sex differences in route strategy use and wayfinding anxiety in adults, even when controlling for general anxiety. Furthermore, when controlling for participant sex and general anxiety, current wayfinding anxiety mediated the relationship between distance traveled during childhood and route strategy use in adults.ConclusionThe current findings provide potential environmental explanations for sex and individual differences in large-scale spatial behaviors, including wayfinding. Specifically, sex differences in early wayfinding experience may explain why males and females develop different strategies for navigating and different levels of wayfinding anxiety. Furthermore, regardless of sex, allowing children to explore and navigate their outdoor environments away from home may help lessen their fears about navigating and, in turn, improve the strategies they choose to traverse unfamiliar territories.

Enhancing Patients' Wayfinding and Visitation Experience Improves Quality of Care

PurposeTo understand the impact of wayfinding challenges on patient hospital visitation experience, organizational costs, and emerging technology trends that may alleviate wayfinding challenges. DesignA review of literature on the relationship of wayfinding to patient's hospital visitation experience. MethodsA literature search identifying issues associated with wayfinding challenges in complex health care facilities was conducted. Case examples are provided to illustrate that the removal of barriers can improve the wayfinding experience. This review also informs technology trends that may effectively facilitate wayfinding in complex health care facilities. FindingsLarge hospital complexes exhibit many characteristics comparable to the physical features of a city environment. These complexities present challenges to patients to navigate to their destinations. An effective wayfinding system is a collection of tools that combines permanent signage, printed information, landmarks, architectural features and design elements, and human interactions. Navigational technology modeling holds the promise to aid patients and individuals with visual and cognitive challenges to find their way to their desired destinations effectively and efficiently, and improves their quality of life. ConclusionsImproved patient travel time correlates to reduce idled nursing time, with cost savings accrued to organization. Research shows that wayfinding mobile applications hold the promise of improving patients' hospital visitation experience.

Wayfinding Strategy and Gender - Testing the Mediating Effects of Wayfinding Experience, Personality and Emotions.

BackgroundIndividual differences have been seen to play a key role in spatial orientation. Gender implications have been previously described but little is known about how other variables, such as wayfinding anxiety, emotional difficulties and wayfinding experience can mediate this relationship.MethodsA group of 269 participants were involved in this study and completed questionnaires on their self-reported allocentric orientation strategy, wayfinding experience and satisfaction with the ability for wayfinding. Emotional outcomes were also investigated: spatial and trait anxiety, neuroticism, difficulties in emotion regulation, and personal safety. First, a principal component analysis was conducted and the studied variables were grouped into four components: outdoor wayfinding experience, wayfinding-related fear, emotional difficulties, and effective wayfinding skill. Afterwards, structural equation modelling was performed, using the MPLUS statistical program.ResultsThe results showed that gender constitutes a predictor for using an effective wayfinding skill and for feeling wayfinding-related fear. However, outdoor wayfinding experience, wayfinding-related fear and emotional difficulties did not mediate the relationship between effective wayfinding skill and gender.ConclusionThese results highlight the differential contribution of gender in the emotions that are experienced during spatial orientation and emotions that are related to other types of situations. The limitations, strengths and theoretical implications of the proposed model are discussed. Further investigation is needed in order to understand the role of emotions in spatial orientation.

The development of a cognitive indoor route planning algorithm: which aspects to include?

Abstract. Wayfinding in the indoor environment is challenging and people often get lost indoors. Navigation systems guide people in these environments, however, the existing systems are not well adapted to their users. The focus of our research is on the route planning aspect of navigation systems. By adapting the routes that people are guided along in the environment, our goal is to substantially improve the wayfinding experience for the users of those systems. Guiding people along routes that adhere better to their cognitive processes could ease the wayfinder in the indoor environment.To select the aspects that should be implemented in a routing algorithm that calculates such routes, a mixed method approach was applied. In this approach, the results of an exploratory focus group and a complementary online survey were combined. To validate these results, a real-life experiment is being developed at the time of writing.Our first study, the exploratory focus group, comprised academic researchers and experts with different background (i.e. Psychology, Geography and Architectural Design). The discussions were guided by a rotating wheel according to the GPS-method which was developed by the Flanders District of Creativity. These discussions provided a broad overview of the elements to be regarded when studying wayfinding. Moreover, results indicate that route complexity has to be considered at different levels: local level (i.e. at decision points) and global level (i.e. legibility of the building). Based on the results of the focus group, multiple situations with specific local characteristics likely inducing confusion and discomfort (e.g. specific intersections, different stair cases, different door types) were selected to elaborate more deeply in the complementary online survey. In this survey, videos of these situations were shown to the participants, as if they were navigating through the building. They were asked to rank their comfort and confusion level about the recorded situation on a 5-point Likert-scale. The results show that visibility, visual clutter and geometric simplicity are of substantial importance when evaluating comfort and confusion levels, and thus the complexity of indoor navigation situations.Since body-movement and the real-world perceptions, which have a substantial impact on information processing and spatial decision making [1], are excluded in these well-controlled lab environments of the previous studies, a real-life experiment will be executed to validate previous findings. The developed study design is in line with the experiment design of previous wayfinding studies [2], [3]. Eye tracking data of participants guided through different complex buildings along different paths (i.e. shortest path and fewest turn path) will be recorded. Performance measures (e.g. duration, stops, errors), eye tracking measures (e.g. fixation number, fixating duration) and annotations of the accompanying researcher, which are all measures indicating complexity and cognitive load, will be compared across the different paths and its decision points. This analysis will allow us to determine complex routes and to identify the environmental characteristics increasing the perceived complexity. Moreover, it will lead to an understanding how and in which occasions people make wayfinding errors.In a subsequent phase of our research project, these results will be incorporated in a cognitively-sounding route planning algorithm which could be a valuable improvement of indoor navigation support. Focus will be on the theoretical interpretation of the underlying spatial concepts. Adjusting the route planning support of indoor navigation systems to human wayfinding behavior could be a substantial contribution in this area.

The Effect of Light Projections for Wayfinding Purposes within an Airport Context

An airport can be a stressful place for passengers. One of the reasons to get stressed might be the result of poor wayfinding. Current wayfinding signs are often static, which makes them difficult to adapt to new situations. In contrast, dynamic signs can be updated and adjusted accordingly. Light projections can be used as dynamic signs. The aim of this study is to understand if the use of animated projections onto the floor can improve the wayfinding experience. Four animations have been developed and tested within a controlled testing environment of which one animation has been tested in a real airport environment. Results indicate that animation for wayfinding purposes should show a clear vertical motion to guide towards a certain direction. Additionally, higher velocity in the animation was perceived as more positive. The observation in the airport showed that a projection in clear daylight and on the floor is not noticed by the passengers walking by.

A research-based approach for improving the airport wayfinding experience

Wayfinding research has a proven and direct impact on the passenger experience, which in turn correlates to airport business performance. Research from recent Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) reports, however, has identified the difficulties faced by infrequent travellers, international travellers and elderly and persons with disabilities when navigating airports. These reports document best wayfinding practices and principles for designing for these user groups. The author introduces ACRP research reports 52, 161 and 177 and explores how these research-based guidelines not only ease wayfinding for travellers with special needs but also improve the passenger experience for all travellers.

Understanding Wayfinding Experience of Hospital Visitor through Tours and Maps Analysis

This paper proposes a spatial narrative approach in understanding the wayfinding spatial experience of hospital visitors in a building environment. Narrative actions involved in wayfinding journeys are explored and analysed using tours and maps reading (de Certeau, 1984) as analysis tools. The study aims at gaining an understanding of how wayfinding spatial experience of visitors is organized. This study reveals that wayfinding consists of both itinerary and spatial knowledge that always relate to and influence each other. Understanding hospital visitors’ wayfinding spatial experience comprehensively can expand our knowledge for designing a supportive healthcare facility’s environment.