Route schematization with landmarks

Predominant navigation applications make use of a turn-by-turn instructions approach and are mostly supported by small screen devices. This combination does little to improve users\u27 orientation or spatial knowledge acquisition. Considering this limitation, we propose a route schematization method aimed for small screen devices to facilitate the readability of route information and survey knowledge acquisition. Current schematization methods focus on the route path and ignore context information, specially polygonal landmarks (such as lakes, parks, and regions), which is crucial for promoting orientation. Our schematization method, in addition to the route path, takes as input: adjacent streets, point-like landmarks, and polygonal landmarks. Moreover, our schematic route map layout highlights spatial relations between route and context information, improves the readability of turns at decision points, and the visibility of survey information on small screen devices. The schematization algorithm combines geometric transformations and integer linear programming to produce the maps. The contribution of this paper is a method that produces schematic route maps with context information to support the user in wayfinding and orientation

Are Psychological Variables Relevant to Evaluating Geoinformatics Applications? The Case of Landmarks (Vision Paper)

Interdisciplinary integration of spatial cognition and spatial computation promises to create better spatial technology based on findings from cognitive psychology experiments. Using the example of psychological studies and computational modelling of landmarks, this paper argues that core evaluation criteria of both disciplines are not well aligned with the goal of evaluating landmark-enhanced navigation support systems that support users in everyday wayfinding. The paper raises two points. First, it reviews evaluation criteria used in the interdisciplinary field of landmark research. It is argued that when to consider the role of landmark-enhanced navigation support systems in everyday life of their users, different evaluation criteria are needed. If strictly-psychological or strictly-computational criteria continue being prioritised by the community, we risk undervaluing significant technological contributions. Second, it proposes one such potential criterion: testing whether the cognitive task has changed due to equipping users with the new technology. This goal might be achieved at the expense of criteria typical to strictly-psychological studies (such as spatial memory of landmarks along the travelled route) or strictly-computational studies (such as efficiency and accuracy of a landmark-selection algorithm). Thus, promoting and implementing alternative evaluation criteria comes with methodological risks. In order to mitigate them we propose a process based on pre-registration of "postdiction" studies and hope to stimulate a further debate on a consensus-based approach in the community

Walk, look, remember: Art galleries as spaces facilitating attention and memory

The spatial organisation of museums has been a subject of numerous studies. Previous research, however, despite reporting some actual behavioural correlates, rarely had the possibility to investigate the cognitive processes of the visitors. In the museum context, where spatial layout is one of the most powerful curatorial tools available, we focus on measuring attention and memory as a means of establishing whether the gallery fulfils its function as a space for contemplating art. In the experiment, 32 participants split into 2 groups explored an experimental, non-public exhibition space whilst wearing a portable eye-tracking device and completed two unanticipated memory tests. The results show that some spatial characteristics of an exhibition can inhibit recall of pictures and shift the focus to perceptual salience of the artworks

Towards a Unified Model of Building Usability

Despite its growing popularity among researchers, user-centric architectural design is still not a clearly defined concept. Buildings' usability characteristics vary significantly between publications (Leaman, 2000; Hölscher et al., 2006) and its quantifiable metrics remain an open challenge to those who seek comparable results. Therefore, it demands a unified theoretical model, which could help to establish a common understanding of usability's key concepts and reliable means of measuring it within the discipline. This paper offers such a clarification by referring to existing knowledge of related areas (mainly human-computer interaction - HCI). Numerous HCI research tools and methods (Cairns and Cox, 2008; Cooper and Reimann, 2003; Norman, 2008) are presented as a verified way of measuring usability, with their possible applications to architecture. Furthermore, the difference between the concepts of 'usability' and 'user experience' is investigated. Again, deriving from rich bibliography of HCI (Hassenzahl, 2010), usability is proposed to be understood as a 'lack of user's frustration'. This definition is also in line with usability's ISO standard, describing it as 'the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use' (Abran, et al., 2003, p.326). In context of architecture, 'specified goals' must be achieved through: a) getting to a place of destination, and b) conduction of a desired action in its environment. Therefore usability can be understood as a sum of intuitional wayfinding (Mijksenaar, 2011) and the building's characteristics that facilitate the action itself - like users' comfort (Leaman, 2000; 2008). Such an approach, calls for considering 'user experience' as a further step in interaction design, where usability's 'lack of frustration' is merely a starting point in a consistent, desired, satisfying experience of being in a place. It also considers both concepts as a part of the same process rather than in opposition to each other, what inclines usability researchers to remain in a constant state of war with creative architects and designers, who tend to consciously avoid the simplest (yet, often the most usable) solutions. Just as much as in architecture, this problem occurs in HCI, and was once summarized by a computer game designer saying that 'if a usability engineer designs a game, it would be most likely a single button announcing 'To win press here' (Hassenzahl, 2010, p.43). Consequently it is not the most usable solution that is to be pursued in design process, but the one being the most satisfying for the user.The aim of this paper is to propose clear definitions of related concepts and serve future debates pursuing user-centric design ideology fully pleasing all the parties

Functional Scales in Assisted Wayfinding (Short Paper)

GPS-based navigation systems are widely used to get wayfinding assistance. Current navigation systems incorporate different map scales for presenting wayfinding instructions, however, the selection of scale is not supported by psychological findings. Different tasks of the users such as the identification of the next decision point or the orientation within the environment might be supported best at particular scales. We propose a new conceptual distinction of functional scales with respect to their role in supporting wayfinding and orientation. We suggest that these functional scales can have a benefit for supporting wayfinding and orientation if used for providing wayfinding instructions. This we aim to empirically evaluate in future work

Spatial Predictors of Eye Movement in a Gallery Setting

The impact of space on our behaviour and cognition is not yet fully understood. The problem is particularly interesting in the context of art galleries, where the spatial context of artefacts is probably the most impactful curatorial tool available, which greatly contributes to the visitors' final experience. Space Syntax - a set of methods for quantitative description of spatial environments - was used to extract various properties of objects' locations from a gallery's layout. Among other variables, eye-tracking measures were obtained from participants freely exploring the space. The results of our analyses show that the spatial arrangement of objects is highly correlated with the number of glimpses occurring at given location. The implications of this are relevant to researchers in real life eye-tracking studies interested in setting up highly controllable experimental spatial environments

Spatial Learning with Orientation Maps: The Influence of Different Environmental Features on Spatial Knowledge Acquisition

The prevalent use of GPS-based navigation systems impairs peoples’ ability to orient themselves. This paper investigates whether wayfinding maps that accentuate different types of environmental features support peoples’ spatial learning. A virtual-reality driving simulator was used to investigate spatial knowledge acquisition in assisted wayfinding tasks. Two main conditions of wayfinding maps were tested against a base condition: (i) highlighting local features, i.e., landmarks, along the route and at decision points; and (ii) highlighting structural features that provide global orientation. The results show that accentuating local features supports peoples’ acquisition of route knowledge, whereas accentuating global features supports peoples’ acquisition of survey knowledge. The results contribute to the general understanding of spatial knowledge acquisition in assisted wayfinding tasks. Future navigation systems could enhance spatial knowledge by providing visual navigation support incorporating not only landmarks but structural features in wayfinding maps

Spatial Intelligence Lab Projects

The Spatial Intelligence Lab is part of the Institute for Geoinformatics at the University of Muenster and deals with research problems from the interdisciplinary field of geographic information science, computer science and cognitive science

Towards capturing focal/ambient attention during dynamic wayfinding

This work-in-progress paper reports on an ongoing experiment in which mobile eye-tracking is used to evaluate different wayfinding support systems. Specifically, it tackles the problem of detecting and isolating attentional demands of building layouts and signage systems in wayfinding tasks. The coefficient K has been previously established as a measure of focal/ambient attention for eye-tracking data. Here, we propose a novel method to compute coefficient K using eye-tracking from virtual reality experiments. We detail challenges associated with transforming a two-dimensional coefficient K concept to three-dimensional data, and the debatable theoretical equivalence of the concept after such a transformation. We present a preliminary implementation to experimental data and explore the possibilities of the method for novel insight in architectural analyses