Experimental Evaluation of Indoor Navigation Devices

The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 59/1, December 2016 published by SAGE Publishing, All rights reserved.Augmented reality (AR) interfaces for indoor navigation on handheld mobile devices seem to greatly enhance directional assistance and user engagement, but it is sometimes challenging for users to hold the device at specific position and orientation during navigation. Previous studies have not adequately explored wearable devices in this context. In the current study, we developed a prototype AR indoor navigation application in order to evaluate and compare handheld devices and wearable devices such as Google Glass, in terms of performance, workload, and perceived usability. The results showed that although the wearable device was perceived to have better accuracy, its overall navigation performance and workload were still similar to a handheld device. We also found that digital navigation aids were better than paper maps in terms of shorter task completion time and lower workload, but digital navigation aids also resulted in worse route/map retention.NSERC Discovery Grant (RGPIN-2015-04134

A virtual versus an augmented reality cooking task based-tools: a behavioral and physiological study on the assessment of executive functions.

[EN] Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are two novel graphics immersive techniques (GIT) that, in the last decade, have been attracting the attention of many researchers, especially in psychological research. VR can provide 3D real-life synthetic environments in which controllers allow human interaction. AR overlays synthetic elements to the real world and the human gaze to target allow hand gesture to act with synthetic elements. Both techniques are providing more ecologically environments than traditional methods, and most of the previous researches, on one side, have more focused on the use of VR for treatment and assessment showing positive effectiveness results. On the other, AR has been proving for the treatment of specific disorders but there are no studies that investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of augmented reality in the neuropsychological assessment. Starting from these premises, the present study aimed to compare the performance and sense of presence using both techniques during an ecological task, such as cooking. The study included 50 cognitively healthy subjects. The cooking task consisted of 4 levels that increased in difficulty. As the level increased, additional activities appeared. The order of presentation of each exposure condition (AR and VR) was counterbalanced for each participant. The virtual reality-cooking task has been performed through ¿HTC/VIVE¿ and augmented reality through ¿Microsoft HoloLens¿.¿Furthermore, the study recorded and compared the psychophysiological changes (heart rate and skin conductance response) during the cooking task in both conditions. To measure the sense of presence occurring during the two exposure conditions, subjects completed the SUSQ and the ITC-SOPI immediately after each condition. The behavioral results showed that times are always lower in VR than in AR, increasing constantly in accordance with the difficulty of the tasks. Regarding physiological responses, the findings showed that AR condition produced more individual excitement and activation than VR. Finally, VR was able to produce higher levels of sense of presence than AR condition. The overall results support that VR currently represents the GIT with greater usability and feasibility compared to AR, probably due to the differences in the human-computer interaction between the two techniques.Chicchi-Giglioli, IA.; Bermejo Vidal, C.; Alcañiz Raya, ML. (2019). A virtual versus an augmented reality cooking task based-tools: a behavioral and physiological study on the assessment of executive functions. Frontiers in Psychology. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02529S112Barratt, E. S. (1959). Anxiety and Impulsiveness Related to Psychomotor Efficiency. 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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 (Sole-Way) 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

Use of Augmented Reality in Human Wayfinding: A Systematic Review

Augmented reality technology has emerged as a promising solution to assist with wayfinding difficulties, bridging the gap between obtaining navigational assistance and maintaining an awareness of one's real-world surroundings. This article presents a systematic review of research literature related to AR navigation technologies. An in-depth analysis of 65 salient studies was conducted, addressing four main research topics: 1) current state-of-the-art of AR navigational assistance technologies, 2) user experiences with these technologies, 3) the effect of AR on human wayfinding performance, and 4) impacts of AR on human navigational cognition. Notably, studies demonstrate that AR can decrease cognitive load and improve cognitive map development, in contrast to traditional guidance modalities. However, findings regarding wayfinding performance and user experience were mixed. Some studies suggest little impact of AR on improving outdoor navigational performance, and certain information modalities may be distracting and ineffective. This article discusses these nuances in detail, supporting the conclusion that AR holds great potential in enhancing wayfinding by providing enriched navigational cues, interactive experiences, and improved situational awareness.Comment: 52 page

Augmented Reality-based Indoor Navigation: A Comparative Analysis of Handheld Devices vs. Google Glass

© 2017 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. U. Rehman, & S. Cao. (2017). IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, 47(1), 140–151. https://doi.org/10.1109/THMS.2016.2620106Navigation systems have been widely used in outdoor environments, but indoor navigation systems are still in early development stages. In this paper, we introduced an augmented-reality-based indoor navigation application to assist people navigate in indoor environments. The application can be implemented on electronic devices such as a smartphone or a head-mounted device. In particular, we examined Google Glass as a wearable head-mounted device in comparison with handheld navigation aids including a smartphone and a paper map. We conducted both a technical assessment study and a human factors study. The technical assessment established the feasibility and reliability of the system. The human factors study evaluated human-machine system performance measures including perceived accuracy, navigation time, subjective comfort, subjective workload, and route memory retention. The results showed that the wearable device was perceived to be more accurate, but other performance and workload results indicated that the wearable device was not significantly different from the handheld smartphone. We also found that both digital navigation aids were better than the paper map in terms of shorter navigation time and lower workload, but digital navigation aids resulted in worse route retention. These results could provide empirical evidence supporting future designs of indoor navigation systems. Implications and future research were also discussed.This work was supported in part by NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN-2015-04134

Avaliação de pontos de referência com uso de QR-code para posicionamento em ambiente indoor

Orientadora : Profª. Drª. Luciene Stamato DelazariDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências da Terra, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Geodésicas. Defesa: Curitiba, 29/07/2016Inclui referências : f. 81-87Resumo: O crescimento da utilização de dados geoespaciais associado com a facilidade de acesso a eles através de dispositivos móveis, contribuem para o surgimento e crescimento das aplicações voltadas para o mapeamento indoor (POTIGIE-TER, 2015). As aplicações, em geral, têm por objetivo auxiliar os usuários em ambientes indoor desconhecidos, pois as pessoas facilmente sentem-se deso-rientadas nestes ambientes (SI; ARIKAWA, 2015). Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo verificar o uso de marcadores implantados em possíveis pontos de re-ferência para a determinação do posicionamento do usuário em um ambiente indoor. Também é avaliado se estes pontos são de fato usados como referên-cia e se o posicionamento determinado apenas em pontos de referência é o suficiente para o usuário se orientar. Com o auxílio da câmera de um dispositi-vo móvel (tablet) é realizado o reconhecimento de um marcador visual que re-cupera a posição do usuário e a apresenta na interface em um mapa esquemá-tico do ambiente, portanto esta abordagem requer a colocação de novas infra-estruturas no meio ambiente e o desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta de visua-lização. O refinamento e validação do projeto foram efetuados por meio do en-volvimento do usuário em um estudo-piloto e os resultados são consequências de análises baseadas nos testes com os usuários. Através da análise dos tes-tes foi possível notar que as pessoas se orientavam de maneira distinta dentro do mesmo ambiente e utilizavam como principais pontos de referência estabe-lecimentos comerciais, escadas e banheiros, em geralos pontos de referências do tipo estrutural foram os pontos mais utilizados como suporte a navegação e orientação. Palavras-Chave: Mapeamento indoor, Orientação espacial, QR-Code, Pontos de referência, Posicionamento indoor.Abstract: The growing use of geospatial data associated with ease access to them through mobile devices contributes to emergence and applications growth for indoor mapping (POTIGIETER, 2015). The applications, in general, aim to as-sist users in unknown indoor environments, since people easily feel disoriented in these environments (SI; ARIKAWA, 2015). This research aims to verify the use of markers implanted in possible reference points to determine user posi-tion in an indoor environment. It is also evaluated whether these points are in fact used as a reference and if positioning determined only in reference points is enough for the user to orientation. The recognition of a visual marker is per-formed with a mobile device camera with a mobile device camera which recov-ers the user as position and also presents it in the interface. This approach re-quires the placement of new Infrastructure in environment and development a visualization tool. The refinement and validation this project were done through user involvement in a pilot study and results are consequences of analysis based on user testing. Through the analysis tests it was possible to notice that people oriented themselves differently within same environment and used as main reference points commercial establishments, stairs and bathrooms, in general, reference points structural type were most used points as support na-vigation and guidance. Keywords: Indoor mapping, Spatial orientation, QR-Code, Landmarks, Indoor positioning

Using Video for Indoor Navigation Guidance

Buildings such as shopping malls or university campuses are complex and have always been a challenge to walk through. While map is the commonly used navigation aid, it has several limitations. On the other hand, there are studies about how visual navigation elements can help people to navigate better. This thesis would like to explore if video can be used as an alternative method to provide navigation information. The findings of visual navigation elements from other studies were implemented in videos. A user study was performed to see the feasibility of video to be used as an alternative medium to present navigation information. There were 10 participants who joined the user study. In the user study, the participants were asked to understand routes by reading a map and watching a navigation video and then walk to the specified rooms. Questionnaires were provided to the participants to record their experience in using the map and the video to understand the routes. Interviews were conducted at the end of each user study to get more comments and feedback from the participants. The user study showed that watching navigation videos allow participants to perform navigation in a more efficient manner with fewer error compared to reading maps. The experience of using videos to receive navigation information is also better compared to maps. The result of the user study suggests that providing navigational information in the form of video can be considered as an alternative to the traditional map. Furthermore, this thesis work also compiled recommendations on how to produce navigation videos

The last-seen image : an image-based approach for finding lost objects using a head-mounted display

Considering the current development of commercial head-mounted displays (HMD), it is likely that HMDs will be widely used in the near future. Therefore, it becomes feasible to build systems that rely on HMD technology. Real-world search engines aim at supporting the user's search capabilities in the real world. HMDs are a possible device to guide a user towards the location of an object. To ensure a high usability, it is essential to find suitable location representations of search results on an HMD. Based on previous findings, we present a novel location representation called "last-seen image" to locate objects in a known environment (e.g. the user’s home or office building). The last-seen image shows the picture of a sought object including the surrounding context of the object. We implemented a prototype on an HMD using WiFi indoor positioning to provide the proposed visualization as well as a map visualization. We conducted a user study comparing our proposed last-seen image approach to a map based approach. The last-seen image showed to be significantly faster for finding harder hidden objects compared to the map representation. However, the map was favored for finding the correct room. Therefore, we propose a hybrid system using the map representation to find the correct room and using the last-seen image to find the object on room-level.Aufgrund der aktuellen Entwicklung von Head-Mounted Displays (HMD) ist es sehr wahrscheinlich, dass HMDs in Zukunft allgegenwärtig sein werden. Deshalb wird ein System, welches auf der Benutzung von HMDs basiert, realisierbar. Real-World Search Engines unterstützen einen User, verlorene Gegenstände wiederzufinden. HMDs eignen sich zur Repräsentation solcher Suchergebnisse. Um die Benutzbarkeit solcher Systeme zu garantieren, ist es wichtig, eine passende Repräsentationsart zu finden. Aufgrund vorheriger Ergebnisse stellen wir eine neuartige Repräsentationsart zur Objektlokalisierung vor: das Last-Seen Image. Das Last-Seen Image zeigt das Bild eines gesuchten Gegenstandes, welches nicht nur den Gegenstand selbst, sondern auch die Umgebung zeigt. Wir haben einen Prototypen entwickelt, welcher auf einem HMD eine Kartenansicht und das Last-Seen Image bereitstellt. Daraufhin haben wir eine Benutzerstudie durchgeführt, um das Last-Seen Image mit der Kartendarstellung zu vergleichen. Es hat sich gezeigt, dass schwer versteckte Objekte mithilfe des Last-Seen Image deutlich schneller gefunden werden als mit der Kartendarstellung. Jedoch wurde die Karte bevorzugt, um den richtigen Raum zu finden. Deshalb empfehlen wir die Benutzung eines Hybriden Systems, welches die Kartendarstellung verwendet, um den richtigen Raum zu finden. Sobald man sich in dem richtigen Raum befindet wird das Last-Seen Image angezeigt

Augmented Reality for Indoor Navigation and Task Guidance

Modern augmented reality systems are becoming increasingly popular in different industrial sectors as augmented reality based applications can improve performance and reduce workload during operations. The efficacy of such systems, however, has not been comprehensively investigated from human factors and performance standpoints. This research explores the design, development and evaluation of augmented reality based prototype applications for two discrete domain areas which include indoor navigation (Part II) and procedural task support in nuclear power plants (Part III). Augmented Reality-Based Indoor Navigation: In the study, we introduced an augmented reality-based indoor navigation application that utilizes pre-scanned environmental features and markerless tracking technology to assist people to navigate in indoor environments. The application can be implemented on electronic devices such as a smartphone or a head-mounted display, providing both visual and auditory instructions. In particular, we examined Google Glass as a wearable head-mounted device in comparison to hand-held navigation aids including a smartphone and a paper map. We conducted both a technical assessment study and a human factors study to comprehensively evaluate the system. The technical assessment established the feasibility and reliability of the system. The human factors study evaluated human-machine system performance measures including perceived accuracy, navigation time, subjective comfort, subjective workload, and route memory retention. The results showed that the wearable device was perceived to be more accurate, but other performance and workload results indicated that the wearable device was not significantly different from the hand-held smartphone. We also found that both digital navigation aids were better than the paper map in terms of shorter navigation time and lower workload, but digital navigation aids resulted in worse route retention. These results could provide empirical evidence supporting future designs of indoor navigation systems. Implications and future research were also discussed. Augmented Reality-Based Task Assistance in Nuclear Power Plants: This research illustrates the design, development and human factors evaluation of an augmented reality based procedural task guidance system, implemented on a hand-held tablet device (ipad), in order to support nuclear power plant operators with main control room operations. After conducting an extensive literature review, we detail the development stages of our new application prototype that employs marker based tracking to superimpose computer generated instructions in the live view of the operators control panel. We had hypothesized that the augmented reality-based procedures would perform better than the traditional methods currently used in nuclear power plants that include computer-based procedures and paper-based procedures. A research study was devised and carried out that compared the three methods of procedural instructions. The performance evaluation and human factors study revealed that the augmented reality based prototype solution reduced operator’s workload, increased operators situation awareness, made processes efficient and less prone to errors and reduced inquiry communication. The results also led us to conclude that augmented reality based procedural assistance poorly supports memory retention and skill learning amongst operators

Unterstützung der Orientierung im Innenbereich: Analyse landmarkenbasierter Karten-Interfaces anhand des Blickverhaltens der Nutzer

Das Navigieren durch komplexe Innenräume erfordert eine Vielzahl kognitiver Ressourcen. In dieser Arbeit wird untersucht, wie dieser Prozess mithilfe eines mobilen Fußgänger-Navigationssystems unterstützt werden kann. In diesem Zusammenhang steht die Anzeige von Landmarken für den Wegfindungsprozess im Fokus. Diese zur Orientierung geeigneten Objekte werden in der vorliegenden Arbeit in einer Navigationsapplikation zur Anzeige gebracht. Alle nachfolgend aufgeführten Experimente waren Feldstudien, wobei die Universität Regensburg als Untersuchungsgebiet diente. Unter anderem wird beim Navigieren die visuelle Aufmerksamkeit der Wegfinder gebunden. Inwiefern dies in Zusammenhang mit der Navigationseffizienz und der subjektiven Zufriedenstellung der Nutzer steht, wurde durch Einsatz eines mobilen Eye-Trackers überprüft. Durch dieses Gerät konnte das Blickverhalten der Testpersonen beobachtet werden. Um geeignete Objekte zu identifizieren, wurden zwei Nutzerstudien durchgeführt (N = 33 und N = 87). Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass vor allem Türen und Treppen als geeignete Orientierungspunkte im Innenbereich dienen können. Zudem sind Räume mit eindeutigen und sichtbaren Benennungen geeignet. Darunter fallen an der Universität beispielsweise Hörsäle. Es stellte sich weiterhin heraus, dass Orientierungslandmarken, die nicht an einem Entscheidungspunkt liegen, im Innenraum zur Wegfindung notwendig sind. Diese Objekte wurden daraufhin in verschiedenen Versionen einer Fußgänger-Navigationsapplikation dargestellt. Dabei lag der Forschungsschwerpunkt auf der Untersuchung, welche zusätzlichen Informationen Wegfinder bei einer kartenbasierten Navigation benötigen. In zwei Studien (N = 81 und N = 69) zeigte sich, dass die Navigation mit sehr detailreichem Kartenmaterial bei der Wegfindung hinderlich ist. Hierzu wurde die zu absolvierende Route in Architekturpläne der Universität Regensburg eingezeichnet und zusätzlich auf Landmarken Bezug genommen. Nutzer, die lediglich mit der Anzeige einer Landmarke und einer sehr abstrahierten Darstellung des Routenverlaufs navigierten, konnten ihr Ziel schneller erreichen. Zudem wurden bei diesen Testpersonen weniger visuelle Ressourcen gebunden. In einer weiteren Studie (N = 118) wurde Kartenmaterial, das explizit für den Wegfindungskontext erstellt worden war, mit einer schematischen Anzeige verglichen. Erneut zeigte sich, dass das Kartenmaterial die Navigationseffizienz einschränkt und die visuelle Aufmerksamkeit stärker bindet. Zusätzlich wurde untersucht, ob die Anzeige mehrerer Landmarken die Navigationseffizienz steigert (N = 120). Es stellte sich heraus, dass die Darstellung nur einer sehr auffälligen Landmarke zu einem besseren Navigationserfolg führt verglichen mit der Visualisierung von vier auffälligen Objekten. Insgesamt haben die Untersuchungen in dieser Arbeit gezeigt, dass für eine effektive und vor allem effiziente Navigation nur wenige Informationen notwendig sind. Das Hinzufügen von Umgebungsdetails bindet visuelle Aufmerksamkeit und scheint die Nutzer dadurch abzulenken