Wayfinding in Complex Multi-storey Buildings: A vision-simulation-augmented wayfinding protocol study

Wayfinding in complex multi-storey buildings often brings newcomers and even some frequent visitors uncertainty and stress. However, there is little understanding on wayfinding in 3D structure which contains inter-storey and inter-building travelling. This paper presents the method of vision-simulation-augmented wayfinding protocol for the study of such 3D structure to find its application from investigating pedestrians’ wayfinding behaviour in general-purpose complex multi-storey buildings. Based on Passini’s studies as a starting point, an exploratory quasi-experiment was developed during the study and then conducted in a daily wayfinding context, adopting wayfinding protocol method with augmentation by the real-time vision simulation. The purpose is to identify people’s natural wayfinding strategies in natural settings, for both frequent visitors and newcomers. It is envisioned that the findings of the study can inspire potential design solutions for supporting pedestrian’s wayfinding in 3D indoor spaces. From the new method developed and new analytic framework, several findings were identified which differ from other wayfinding literature, such as (1) people seem to directly “make sense” of wayfinding settings, (2) people could translate recurring actions into unconscious operational behaviours, and (3) physical rotation and constrained views, instead of vertical travelling itself, should be problems for wayfinding process, etc. Keywords: Wayfinding Protocol; Real-time Vision Simulation; 3D Indoor Space; Activity Theory; Structure of Wayfinding process</p

Understanding Space: the nascent synthesis of cognition and the syntax of spatial morphologies

24-28 September, 200

Space syntax and spatial cognition: or why the axial line?

200

Encoding natural movement as an agent-based system: an investigation into human pedestrian behaviour in the built environment

Gibson's ecological theory of perception has received considerable attention within psychology literature, as well as in computer vision and robotics. However, few have applied Gibson's approach to agent-based models of human movement, because the ecological theory requires that individuals have a vision-based mental model of the world, and for large numbers of agents this becomes extremely expensive computationally. Thus, within current pedestrian models, path evaluation is based on calibration from observed data or on sophisticated but deterministic route-choice mechanisms; there is little open-ended behavioural modelling of human-movement patterns. One solution which allows individuals rapid concurrent access to the visual information within an environment is an 'exosomatic visual architecture" where the connections between mutually visible locations within a configuration are prestored in a lookup table. Here we demonstrate that, with the aid of an exosomatic visual architecture, it is possible to develop behavioural models in which movement rules originating from Gibson's principle of affordance are utilised. We apply large numbers of agents programmed with these rules to a built-environment example and show that, by varying parameters such as destination selection, field of view, and steps taken between decision points, it is possible to generate aggregate movement levels very similar to those found in an actual building context

Passenger Flows in Underground Railway Stations and Platforms, MTI Report 12-43

Urban rail systems are designed to carry large volumes of people into and out of major activity centers. As a result, the stations at these major activity centers are often crowded with boarding and alighting passengers, resulting in passenger inconvenience, delays, and at times danger. This study examines the planning and analysis of station passenger queuing and flows to offer rail transit station designers and transit system operators guidance on how to best accommodate and manage their rail passengers. The objectives of the study are to: 1) Understand the particular infrastructural, operational, behavioral, and spatial factors that affect and may constrain passenger queuing and flows in different types of rail transit stations; 2) Identify, compare, and evaluate practices for efficient, expedient, and safe passenger flows in different types of station environments and during typical (rush hour) and atypical (evacuations, station maintenance/ refurbishment) situations; and 3) Compile short-, medium-, and long-term recommendations for optimizing passenger flows in different station environments

The impact of airport road wayfinding design on senior driver behaviour

Airport road access wayfinding refers to a process in which a driver makes a decision to navigate using information support systems in order to arrive to airport successfully. The purpose of this research is to evaluate senior drivers’ behaviour of alternative airport road access designs. In order to evaluate the impact of wayfinding, the combination of simulated driving and completion of a questionnaire were performed. Quantitative data was acquired to give significant results justifying the research outcomes and allow non-biased interpretation of the research results. It represents the process within the development of the methodology and the concept of airport road access design and driving behaviour. Wayfinding complexity varied due to differing levels of road-side furniture. The simulated driving parameters measured were driving mistakes and performances of senior drivers. Three types of driving scenarios were designed consisting of 3.8 miles of airport road access. 40 senior drivers volunteered to undertake these tasks. The questionnaire was used as a supporting study to increase the reliability and validity of the research. Respondents who volunteered for the simulated driving test were encouraged to participate in the questionnaire sessions. The questionnaire was answered after each simulation test was completed. The Mean, Standard Deviation (SD) and Two-Way ANOVA test were used to analyse the results and discussed with reference to the use of the driving simulation. The results confirmed that age group has no significant effect of airport road access complexity design on driving behaviour. Although many studies have been conducted on wayfinding in general, a detailed evaluation on airport road access wayfinding network and driving behaviour in respect of senior drivers were still unexplored domains