Spatial knowledge acquisition for pedestrian navigation: A comparative study between smartphones and AR glasses

Smartphone map-based pedestrian navigation is known to have a negative effect on the long-term acquisition of spatial knowledge and memorisation of landmarks. Landmark-based navigation has been proposed as an approach that can overcome such limitations. In this work, we investigate how different interaction technologies, namely smartphones and augmented reality (AR) glasses, can affect the acquisition of spatial knowledge when used to support landmark-based pedestrian navigation. We conducted a study involving 20 participants, using smartphones or augmented reality glasses for pedestrian navigation. We studied the effects of these systems on landmark memorisation and spatial knowledge acquisition over a period of time. Our results show statistically significant differences in spatial knowledge acquisition between the two technologies, with the augmented reality glasses enabling better memorisation of landmarks and paths

A MUSEUM WITHOUT WALLS: A DIGITAL TOOL FOR THE ROYAL ARMOURIES

This report, prepared for the Royal Armouries Education Center located at Her Majesty\u27s Tower of London, describes the creation of three tools to assist archiving and exhibiting of information contained in the White Tower. The tools include a digital archive, a virtual tour, and a virtual Line of Kings exhibit. This project responds to the Royal Armouries\u27 staff\u27s requests for an updated archive and an increase in accessibility by providing better-maintained exhibit records and online access to the White Tower

Technological framework for ubiquitous interactions using context–aware mobile devices

This report presents research and development of dedicated system architecture, designed to enable its users to interact with each other as well as to access information on Points of Interest that exist in their immediate environment. This is accomplished through managing personal preferences and contextual information in a distributed manner and in real-time. The advantage of this system architecture is that it uses mobile devices, heterogeneous sensors and a selection of user interface paradigms to produce a sociotechnical framework to enhance the perception of the environment and promote intuitive interactions. The thrust of the work has been on software development and component integration. Iterative prototyping was adopted as a development method in order to effectively implement the users’ feedback and establish a platform for collaboration that closely meets the requirements and aids their decision-making process. The requirement acquisition was followed by the system-modelling phase in order to produce a robust software prototype. The implementation includes component-based development and extensive use of design patterns over native programming. Conclusively, the software product has become the means to evaluate differences in the use of mixed reality technologies in a ubiquitous scenario. The prototype can query a number of context sources such as sensors, or details of the personal profile, to acquire relevant data. The data (and metadata) is stored in opensource structures, so that they are accessible at every layer of the system architecture and at any time. By proactively processing the acquired context, the system can assist the users in their tasks (e.g. navigation) without explicit input – e.g. by simply creating a gesture with the device. However, advanced interaction with the application via the user interface is available for requests that are more complex. Representations of the real world objects, their spatial relations and other captured features of interest are visualised on scalable interfaces, ranging from 2D to 3D models and from photorealism to stylised clues and symbols. Two principal modes of operation have been implemented; one, using geo-referenced virtual reality models of the environment, updated in real time, and second, using the overlay of descriptive annotations and graphics on the video images of the surroundings, captured by a video camera. The latter is referred to as augmented reality. The continuous feed of the device position and orientation data, from the GPS receiver and the digital compass, into the application, makes the framework fit for use in unknown environments and therefore suitable for ubiquitous operation. This is one of the novelties of the proposed framework, because it enables a whole range of social, peer-to-peer interactions to take place. The scenarios of how the system could be employed to pursue these remote interactions and collaborative efforts on mobile devices are addressed in the context of urban navigation. The conceptual design and implementation of the novel location and orientation based algorithm for mobile AR are presented in detail. The system is, however, multifaceted and capable of supporting peer-to-peer exchange of information in a pervasive fashion, usable in various contexts. The modalities of these interactions are explored and laid out in several scenarios, but particularly in the context of user adoption. Two evaluation tasks took place. The preliminary evaluation examined certain aspects that influence user interaction while being immersed in a virtual environment, whereas the second summative evaluation compared the utility and certain usability aspects of the AR and VR interfaces

Virtual reality route learning in people with traumatic brain injury

Volume I contains three research papers. Firstly a systematic review was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of rehabilitation strategies for improving navigation in people with acquired brain injuries (ABI). Secondly, a mixed within and between-subjects experiment was conducted to explore differences in Virtual Reality route learning in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared to a matched control group in relation to landmark type (proximal and distal) and navigation strategies (egocentric and allocentric). Finally, a public dissemination document provides an overview of both the systematic review and empirical paper in a manner suitable for dissemination to relevant stakeholders.The results of the systematic review indicated that there is much variation in the compensatory rehabilitation strategies used to help people with ABI successfully navigate. Compensatory rehabilitation strategies were broadly categorised according to whether they were person-oriented, environmentally-oriented or hybrid approaches. Overall, the conclusions that could be generated was limited by poor methodological quality and thus, more robust research is needed on this topic before an evidence-based navigation rehabilitation strategy can be used in clinical practice. Suggestions as to promising areas for future research are given. Findings from the experimental Virtual Reality route learning study suggested that people with TBI are impaired at route learning using distal landmarks compared to a neurologically-healthy control group. As navigation using distal landmarks has been associated with an allocentric ‘mental map’ strategy using the hippocampus, it is possible that the participants with TBI in this study were impaired at route learning using distal landmarks due to an inability to use their hippocampi to build up a mental map of space. However, as both groups of participants reported using an egocentric ‘associative’ strategy to learn both types of landmark routes, this association needs further exploration

The Covert Life of Hospital Architecture

The Covert Life of Hospital Architecture addresses hospital architecture as a set of interlocked, overlapping spatial and social conditions. It identifies ways that planned-for and latent functions of hospital spaces work jointly to produce desired outcomes such as greater patient safety, increased scope for care provider communication and more intelligible corridors. By advancing space syntax theory and methods, the volume brings together emerging research on hospital environments. Opening with a description of hospital architecture that emphasizes everyday relations, the sequence of chapters takes an unusually comprehensive view that pairs spaces and occupants in hospitals: the patient room and its intervisibility with adjacent spaces, care teams and on-ward support for their work and the intelligibility of public circulation spaces for visitors. The final chapter moves outside the hospital to describe the current healthcare crisis of the global pandemic as it reveals how healthcare institutions must evolve to be adaptable in entirely new ways. Reflective essays by practicing designers follow each chapter, bringing perspectives from professional practice into the discussion. The Covert Life of Hospital Architecture makes the case that latent dimensions of space as experienced have a surprisingly strong link to measurable outcomes, providing new insights into how to better design hospitals through principles that have been tested empirically. It will become a reference for healthcare planners, designers, architects and administrators, as well as for readers from sociology, psychology and other areas of the social sciences

The Covert Life of Hospital Architecture

The Covert Life of Hospital Architecture addresses hospital architecture as a set of interlocked, overlapping spatial and social conditions. It identifies ways that planned-for and latent functions of hospital spaces work jointly to produce desired outcomes such as greater patient safety, increased scope for care provider communication and more intelligible corridors. By advancing space syntax theory and methods, the volume brings together emerging research on hospital environments. Opening with a description of hospital architecture that emphasizes everyday relations, the sequence of chapters takes an unusually comprehensive view that pairs spaces and occupants in hospitals: the patient room and its intervisibility with adjacent spaces, care teams and on-ward support for, and the intelligibility of public circulation spaces for visitors. The final chapter moves outside the hospital to describe the current healthcare crisis of the global pandemic as it reveals how healthcare institutions must evolve to be adaptable in entirely new ways. Reflective essays by practicing designers follow each chapter, bringing perspectives from professional practice into the discussion. The Covert Life of Hospital Architecture makes the case that latent dimensions of space as experienced have a surprisingly strong link to measurable outcomes, providing new insights into how to better design hospitals through principles that have been tested empirically. It will become a reference for healthcare planners, designers, architects and administrators, as well as for readers from sociology, psychology and other areas of the social sciences

Value in Experience. Design and Evaluation Framework based on Case Studies of Novel Mobile Services

The concept of ‘value’ has received extensive interest in research in the fields of psychology, marketing and, more recently, human-computer interaction (HCI). Gaining insights into users’ personal values can lead to a better understanding of user behaviour. However, the concept of value is not clearly defined, and researchers have produced differing views on the conceptualization of the construct. In the past decade, user experience has received considerable attention in HCI research. Yet the relationship between user experience and value has not gained much attention. The goal of this dissertation is to better understand and articulate the value in user experience. The focus is on novel mobile service solutions, taking into account the viewpoint of different user groups. Achieving an understanding of different user groups will greatly help design successful mobile services for target user populations. The empirical foundation for this dissertation is findings concerning user experience from seven individual case studies conducted in the field with the endusers. Interpretive case studies of novel mobile services in varying usage contexts involved different user groups: children, teenagers, college students and vision and memory -impaired older people. An initial value framework is developed as a synthesis from the literature. By utilizing this framework, the user experience findings obtained are re-examined from the point of view of value through a crosscase analysis and synthesis. Based on this analysis, value parameters from individual mobile service case studies are interpreted and categorized. The initial value framework is complemented by relying on the value parameters identified from the case studies. This work contributes to the field of HCI by showing that user experience and value are closely intertwined. The thesis proposes the concept of “value in experience (ViE)”, which refers to the user’s iterative (subconscious and conscious) interpretation and evaluation of user experience with a service. A value design and evaluation framework is presented and demonstrated by evaluating value in experience from the case studies. Also the designer values are analysed and compared with the value in experience. The framework presents a rich description of value dimensions relevant to specific user groups and mobile service domains in varying usage contexts. Furthermore, value in experience design and evaluation guidelines related to different user groups are proposed. The proposed conceptualization of value in experience offers insights to help understand the dimensions of value, and serves as a lens to guide interpretive analysis of value in experience. The complemented value design and evaluation framework is a tool for identifying and describing the key value dimensions for value in experience evaluation. Furthermore, the framework can support service design processes. The cross-case study findings provide insights into the special characteristics of different user groups and their value priorities in specific service domains. Even though the framework is based on mobile services, its main constructs are expected also to be applicable to other types of digital services

Immersive Participation:Futuring, Training Simulation and Dance and Virtual Reality

Dance knowledge can inform the development of scenario design in immersive digital simulation environments by strengthening a participant’s capacity to learn through the body. This study engages with processes of participatory practice that question how the transmission and transfer of dance knowledge/embodied knowledge in immersive digital environments is activated and applied in new contexts. These questions are relevant in both arts and industry and have the potential to add value and knowledge through crossdisciplinary collaboration and exchange. This thesis consists of three different research projects all focused on observation, participation, and interviews with experts on embodiment in digital simulation. The projects were chosen to provide a range of perspectives across dance, industry and futures studies. Theories of embodied cognition, in particular the notions of the extended body, distributed cognition, enactment and mindfulness, offer critical lenses through which to explore the relationship of embodied integration and participation within immersive digital environments. These areas of inquiry lead to the consideration of how language from the field of computer science can assist in describing somatic experience in digital worlds through a discussion of the emerging concepts of mindfulness, wayfinding, guided movement and digital kinship. These terms serve as an example of how the mutability of language became part of the process as terms applied in disparate disciplines were understood within varying contexts. The analytic tools focus on applying a posthuman view, speculation through a futures ethnography, and a cognitive ethnographical approach to my research project. These approaches allowed me to examine an ecology of practices in order to identify methods and processes that can facilitate the transmission and transfer of embodied knowledge within a community of practice. The ecological components include dance, healthcare, transport, education and human/computer interaction. These fields drove the data collection from a range of sources including academic papers, texts, specialists’ reports, scientific papers, interviews and conversations with experts and artists.The aim of my research is to contribute both a theoretical and a speculative understanding of processes, as well as tools applicable in the transmission of embodied knowledge in virtual dance and arts environments as well as digital simulation across industry. Processes were understood theoretically through established studies in embodied cognition applied to workbased training, reinterpreted through my own movement study. Futures methodologies paved the way for speculative processes and analysis. Tools to choreograph scenario design in immersive digital environments were identified through the recognition of cross purpose language such as mindfulness, wayfinding, guided movement and digital kinship. Put together, the major contribution of this research is a greater understanding of the value of dance knowledge applied to simulation developed through theoretical and transformational processes and creative tools