Wayfinding Instructions Research Articles

Generalized Nested Logit-Based Stochastic User Equilibrium Considering Static Wayfinding Instructions

Generalized Nested Logit-Based Stochastic User Equilibrium Considering Static Wayfinding Instructions

The effect of landmark visualization in mobile maps on brain activity during navigation: A virtual reality study

The frequent use of GPS-based navigation assistance is found to negatively affect spatial learning. Displaying landmarks effectively while providing wayfinding instructions on such services could facilitate spatial learning because landmarks help navigators to structure and learn an environment by serving as cognitive anchors. However, simply adding landmarks on mobile maps may tax additional cognitive resources and thus adversely affect cognitive load in mobile map users during navigation. To address this potential issue, we set up the present study experimentally to investigate how the number of landmarks (i.e., 3 vs. 5 vs. 7 landmarks), displayed on a mobile map one at a time at intersections during turn-by-turn instructions, affects spatial learning, cognitive load, and visuospatial encoding during map consultation in a virtual urban environment. Spatial learning of the environment was measured using a landmark recognition test, a route direction test, and Judgements of Relative Directions (JRDs). Cognitive load and visuospatial encoding were assessed using electroencephalography (EEG) by analyzing power modulations in distinct frequency bands as well as peak amplitudes of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Behavioral results demonstrate that landmark and route learning improve when the number of landmarks shown on a mobile map increases from three to five, but that there is no further benefit in spatial learning when depicting seven landmarks. EEG analyses show that relative theta power at fronto-central leads and P3 amplitudes at parieto-occipital leads increase in the seven-landmark condition compared to the three- and five-landmark conditions, likely indicating an increase in cognitive load in the seven-landmark condition. Visuospatial encoding indicated by greater theta ERS and alpha ERD at occipital leads with a greater number of landmarks on mobile maps. We conclude that the number of landmarks visualized when following a route can support spatial learning during map-assisted navigation but with a potential boundary—visualizing landmarks on maps benefits users’ spatial learning only when the number of visualized landmarks shown does not exceed users’ cognitive capacity. These results shed more light on neuronal correlates underlying cognitive load and visuospatial encoding during spatial learning in map-assisted navigation. Our findings also contribute to the design of neuro-adaptive landmark visualization for mobile navigation aids that aim to adapt to users’ cognitive load to optimize their spatial learning in real time.

PENINGKATAN RANCANGAN WAYFINDING (MENEMUKAN JALAN) UNTUK SEKOLAH PENYANDANG DISABILITAS VISUAL DI SURABAYA DAN PELUANG PENGEMBANGANNYA UNTUK BANGUNAN PUBLIK LAINNYA


 
 
 Title: Wayfinding Design Improvement for the Blind School in Surabaya and Development Opportunities for Other Public Buildings
 Yayasan Pendidikan Anak Buta (Blind Children Education Foundation or YPAB) Special Junior High School in Surabaya is a dedicated institution for teaching blind students. Unfortunately, the school is found less accessible for the blind because it was designed for the farming school with spread buildings’ footprints in the 1970s. A literature review and accessibility evaluation conclude that besides architecture improvement, a small architectural model is needed to teach the students to be able to conduct orientation and mobility. The model should be accessible to blind students, total blind and low vision, with various information such as voice, braille, contrasting colour, and tactile marking. This architecture model is designed in collaboration of YP AB teachers, Architecture Program Study, Electrical Program Study of Petra Christian University and Prototype Studio. The model is created with laser cutting and equipped with electronic circuits for the voice of wayfinding instructions for blind students. The model is found improving the blind students to practice orientation and mobility in the school. Further research pursues improving public building wayfinding for the blind persons as described in the State Library of Queensland (SLQ).
 
 

The effect of orientation instructions on the recall and reuse of route and survey elements in wayfinding descriptions

Turn-by-turn instructions of navigation systems do not fully correspond to the way in which people typically communicate spatial information to each other. Previous research demonstrated that the acquisition of survey knowledge from such instructions is challenging. In the present study we investigate whether it is possible to create wayfinding instructions that communicate survey information, without sacrificing the recall of route information. We explore whether the presentation of survey information can be easily mentally integrated with route information. To this end, we compared three different types of wayfinding instructions: turn-by-turn instructions, which include streets and metric distances; spatial chunking instructions which include local route information such as landmarks located at decision points and present instructions in cognitively logical chunks; and our orientation instructions, which combine local and global information of the route and integrate it within the environment's context. Instructions were presented in verbal and visual modes. Results showed that it is possible to improve the recall of survey information without sacrificing the recall of route-specific elements: visual orientation instructions resulted in significantly higher landmark recall rates, significantly higher quality sketch maps, and significantly more “survey-like” sketch map types. In the verbal mode, differences between orientation instructions and spatial chunking instructions were less clear, but the performance of both was better, compared to turn-by-turn instructions. These results contribute to the ongoing discussion on the potential reasons for the navigation systems' detrimental effect on spatial learning and demonstrate that people can learn both types of knowledge if the presentation style supports it. The overall amount of acquired knowledge could be improved through orientation instructions. Our study has practical implications for the future design of navigation systems.

Comparing written and photo-based indoor wayfinding instructions through eye fixation measures and user ratings as mental effort assessments.

The use of mobile pedestrian wayfinding applications is gaining importance indoors. However, compared to outdoors, much less research has been conducted with respect to the most adequate ways to convey indoor wayfinding information to a user. An explorative study was conducted to compare two pedestrian indoor wayfinding applications, one text-based (SoleWay) and one image-based (Eyedog), in terms of mental effort. To do this, eye tracking data and mental effort ratings were collected from 29 participants during two routes in an indoor environment. The results show that both textual instructions and photographs can enable a navigator to find his/her way while experiencing no or very little cognitive effort or difficulties. However, these instructions must be in line with a user’s expectations of the route, which are based on his/her interpretation of the indoor environment at decision points. In this case, textual instructions offer the advantage that specific information can be explicitly and concisely shared with the user. Furthermore, the study drew attention to potential usability issues of the wayfinding aids (e.g. the incentive to swipe) and, as such, demonstrated the value of eye tracking and mental effort assessments in usability research.

Wayfinding Through Orientation

ABSTRACTDominant approaches in computer-assisted wayfinding support adhere to the deeply problematic principles of turn-by-turn navigation. In this article, we suggest a new approach called “Wayfinding Through Orientation,” which supports the acquisition of spatial knowledge and cognitive mapping for advancing the user’s spatial orientation. Being oriented on one’s way is a prerequisite to enabling people to verify instructions and to incorporate new spatial information into their existing knowledge structure. In three studies described in this article we first present empirical evidence that people can be supported in survey knowledge acquisition through suitable wayfinding instructions. Consequently, we explore orientation information in human wayfinding instructions. Finally, we outline how orientation information can be communicated within a prototypically implemented navigation assistance system.

Orientation information in wayfinding instructions: evidences from human verbal and visual instructions

Although the importance of landmarks for human navigation and for orientation is well accepted, most of today’s navigation systems hardly incorporate any landmark information or information supporting orientation. Different from previous research that only addressed turn-by-turn instructions in verbal forms and landmarks at decision points, the present study provides empirical evidence that human-generated wayfinding instructions are not solely turn-by-turn but the majority of instructions provide orientation information. We propose a new classification scheme for identifying information in wayfinding instructions that will not only support orientation but also facilitate construction of mental map. We explored and compared two forms of representations—visual sketch map and verbal instructions. Results revealed that landmark information is important in human wayfinding instructions with particular importance of local landmarks along the route and global landmarks that support orientation. In addition, sketch maps contained more global landmarks than verbal instructions. In contrast to turn-by-turn navigation, we found that many instructions in human route descriptions do not always refer to turning actions but to orientation. We conducted interviews with a set of raters on what they consider helpful information in both forms of representations. These results confirmed our findings and supported that future route descriptions can be more meaningful and helpful when they are enriched with orientation information as they conform to how humans structure wayfinding instructions.

Identifying related landmark tags in urban scenes using spatial and semantic clustering

There is considerable interest in developing landmark saliency models as a basis for describing urban landscapes, and in constructing wayfinding instructions, for text and spoken dialogue based systems. The challenge lies in knowing the truthfulness of such models; is what the model considers salient the same as what is perceived by the user? The method developed in this research identifies related annotated tags supplied from a web based experiment in which users were asked to tag the most salient features on urban images for the purposes of navigation and exploration. The tag collections may be used to rank landmark popularity in each scene, but the challenge is in determining which tags relate to the same object (e.g. tags relating to a particular café). Existing clustering techniques did not perform well for this task, and it was therefore necessary to develop a new spatial-semantic clustering method which considered the proximity of nearby tags and the similarity of their label content. The annotation similarity was initially calculated using trigrams in conjunction with a synonym list, generating a set of networks formed from the links between related tags. These networks were used to build related word lists encapsulating conceptual connections (e.g. church tower related to clock) so that during a secondary pass of the data, related network segments could be merged. This approach gives interesting insight into the partonomic relationships between the constituent parts of landmarks and the range and frequency of terms used to describe them.

Measure of Landmark Semantic Salience through Geosocial Data Streams

Research in the area of spatial cognition demonstrated that references to landmarks are essential in the communication and the interpretation of wayfinding instructions for human being. In order to detect landmarks, a model for the assessment of their salience has been previously developed by Raubal and Winter. According to their model, landmark salience is divided into three categories: visual, structural, and semantic. Several solutions have been proposed to automatically detect landmarks on the basis of these categories. Due to a lack of relevant data, semantic salience has been frequently reduced to objects’ historical and cultural significance. Social dimension (i.e., the way an object is practiced and recognized by a person or a group of people) is systematically excluded from the measure of landmark semantic salience even though it represents an important component. Since the advent of mobile Internet and smartphones, the production of geolocated content from social web platforms—also described as geosocial data—became commonplace. Actually, these data allow us to have a better understanding of the local geographic knowledge. Therefore, we argue that geosocial data, especially Social Location Sharing datasets, represent a reliable source of information to precisely measure landmark semantic salience in urban area.

Visualising distant off-screen landmarks on mobile devices to support spatial orientation

Mobile devices have become increasingly popular in supporting persons to find their ways in our daily lives. Research has been initiated to address issues including the efficiency of wayfinding instructions and the effect of using mobile devices on spatial awareness including cognitive mapping and spatial orientation. In this paper, we present our initial work on the design of mobile map display that visualises distant landmarks at the edge of mobile screen to support spatial orientation. Empirical assessments show that the visualisation of distant landmarks, in comparison with the visualisation without distant landmarks, contributes positively to persons with low sense of direction to be spatially oriented. Furthermore, this design dramatically reduces the frequency of zooming activity on mobile devices. Results indicate the potentials and challenges of extending this design into routing services that could further support user's wayfinding efficiency and spatial awareness.

Analysis of verbal route descriptions and landmarks for hiking

Along with the increasing number of mobile applications for pedestrian use a need arises for more intuitive wayfinding instructions, also for broader use such as hiking. To get a deeper understanding about what kinds of terms and concepts people use when moving in a natural environment and how they describe their surroundings, an empirical thinking aloud study was carried out in a national park during both winter and summer conditions. This study aims at providing additional knowledge on human verbal descriptions of routes and landmarks. The propositions of descriptions are classified into categories and analysed. The results of this study will be utilised for an implementation of a terrain navigator to support such leisure activities as hiking during different times of a year. The results of the analysis of verbal descriptions regarding hiking are discussed and compared with previous studies, and finally conclusions are given.