The impact of 3D virtual environments with different levels of realism on route learning: a focus on age-based differences

With technological advancements, it has become notably easier to create virtual environments (VEs) depicting the real world with high fidelity and realism. These VEs offer some attractive use cases for navigation studies looking into spatial cognition. However, such photorealistic VEs, while attractive, may complicate the route learning process as they may overwhelm users with the amount of information they contain. Understanding how much and what kind of photorealistic information is relevant to people at which point on their route and while they are learning a route can help define how to design virtual environments that better support spatial learning. Among the users who may be overwhelmed by too much information, older adults represent a special interest group for two key reasons: 1) The number of people over 65 years old is expected to increase to 1.5 billion by 2050 (World Health Organization, 2011); 2) cognitive abilities decline as people age (Park et al., 2002). The ability to independently navigate in the real world is an important aspect of human well-being. This fact has many socio-economic implications, yet age-related cognitive decline creates difficulties for older people in learning their routes in unfamiliar environments, limiting their independence. This thesis takes a user-centered approach to the design of visualizations for assisting all people, and specifically older adults, in learning routes while navigating in a VE. Specifically, the objectives of this thesis are threefold, addressing the basic dimensions of: ❖ Visualization type as expressed by different levels of realism: Evaluate how much and what kind of photorealistic information should be depicted and where it should be represented within a VE in a navigational context. It proposes visualization design guidelines for the design of VEs that assist users in effectively encoding visuospatial information. ❖ Use context as expressed by route recall in short- and long-term: Identify the implications that different information types (visual, spatial, and visuospatial) have over short- and long-term route recall with the use of 3D VE designs varying in levels of realism. ❖ User characteristics as expressed by group differences related to aging, spatial abilities, and memory capacity: Better understand how visuospatial information is encoded and decoded by people in different age groups, and of different spatial and memory abilities, particularly while learning a route in 3D VE designs varying in levels of realism. In this project, the methodology used for investigating the topics outlined above was a set of controlled lab experiments nested within one. Within this experiment, participants’ recall accuracy for various visual, spatial, and visuospatial elements on the route was evaluated using three visualization types that varied in their amount of photorealism. These included an Abstract, a Realistic, and a Mixed VE (see Figure 2), for a number of route recall tasks relevant to navigation. The Mixed VE is termed “mixed” because it includes elements from both the Abstract and the Realistic VEs, balancing the amount of realism in a deliberate manner (elaborated in Section 3.5.2). This feature is developed within this thesis. The tested recall tasks were differentiated based on the type of information being assessed: visual, spatial, and visuospatial (elaborated in Section 3.6.1). These tasks were performed by the participants both immediately after experiencing a drive-through of a route in the three VEs and a week after that; thus, addressing short- and long-term memory, respectively. Participants were counterbalanced for their age, gender, and expertise while their spatial abilities and visuospatial memory capacity were controlled with standardized psychological tests. The results of the experiments highlight the importance of all three investigated dimensions for successful route learning with VEs. More specifically, statistically significant differences in participants’ recall accuracy were observed for: 1) the visualization type, highlighting the value of balancing the amount of photorealistic information presented in VEs while also demonstrating the positive and negative effects of abstraction and realism in VEs on route learning; 2) the recall type, highlighting nuances and peculiarities across the recall of visual, spatial, and visuospatial information in the short- and long-term; and, 3) the user characteristics, as expressed by age differences, but also by spatial abilities and visuospatial memory capacity, highlighting the importance of considering the user type, i.e., for whom the visualization is customized. The original and unique results identified from this work advance the knowledge in GIScience, particularly in geovisualization, from the perspective of the “cognitive design” of visualizations in two distinct ways: (i) understanding the effects that visual realism has—as presented in VEs—on route learning, specifically for people of different age groups and with different spatial abilities and memory capacity, and (ii) proposing empirically validated visualization design guidelines for the use of photorealism in VEs for efficient recall of visuospatial information during route learning, not only for shortterm but also for long-term recall in younger and older adults

Programa intensivo ERASMUS: TOPCART. Documentación Geométrica del Patrimonio (memoria de actividades 2010-2011)

[EN] Data contained in this record come from the following accademic activity (from which it is possible to locate additional records related with the Monastery):● LDGP_inv_002: "Intensive Program ERASMUS: TOPCART. Geometric Documentation of the Heritage (administrative and academic documentation)", http://hdl.handle.net/10810/9906[ES] Los datos de este registro provienen de la una actividad académica que también aparece descrita en el repositorio y desde donde se puede acceder a otros trabajos relacionados con el Monasterio:● LDGP_inv_002: "Programa intensivo ERASMUS: TOPCART. Documentación Geométrica del Patrimonio (documentación administrativa y académica)", http://hdl.handle.net/10810/9906[EN] The main objective this project is looking for is the exchange of practical methodologies, in topics related with the measure and representation of heritage, between teachers and specially students from different countries. For the achievement of this aim we expect the participation of a group of about 30 students and 8 lecturers from Germany, Italy, Greece, Lithuania and Spain.Activities will be focused on the development of concrete projects in documentation of heritage, specifically in the San Prudencio Monastery (La Rioja, Spain). In this site, digital techniques for the acquisition of geometric information from GPS equipment, surveying total stations, laser scanner and photogrammetry systems, will be put into practice.Obtained data will be processed as follows: first of all, they will be documented by adding necessary metadata in order to ensure their use in the future, then, they will be treated to obtain cartographic representations and virtual models which can be distributed on the Internet.As results we expect: metric data of the monument, graphic models for difussion and collaboration partnertships.[ES] El objetivo principal que se persigue en este proyecto es el intercambio de metodológico práctico, en materias afines a la medida y la representación del patrimonio, entre profesores y fundamentalmente alumnos, de diferentes países. Para la consecución de este fin se espera la participación de un grupo de aproximadamente 25 alumnos y 8 profesores de (Alemania, Italia, Grecia, Lituania y España).Las actividades se centrarán en el desarrollo de proyectos concretos de documentación de elementos patrimoniales, en concreto el apartado práctico se desarrollará en el Monasterio de San Prudencio (La Rioja, España). En el se aplicarán técnicas digitales de registro de información geométrica, constituidas por receptores GPS, estaciones totales topográficas, escáneres láser y sistemas fotogramétricos.Los datos obtenidos serán tratados de la siguiente manera: en primer lugar serán documentados, mediante la adición de la metainformación necesaria para garantizar su utilidad a lo largo del tiempo, seguidamente serán procesados con el fin de obtener las representaciones cartográficas y modelos virtuales de representación que puedan ser difundidas por medio de Internet.Como resultados se pretenden: un conjunto de registros métricos del momento de la intervención, modelos gráficos de difusión y finalmente relaciones de colaboración interpersonal e interinstitucional.European Commission, DG Education and Culture (Erasmus 2009-1-ES1-ERAIP-0013, 2010-1-ES1-ERA10-0024); Organismo Autónomo Programas Educativos Europeos (OAPEE); Gobierno de La Rioja (Spain); Universidad de La Rioja; Clavijo City Council; Logroño City Council; Ilustre Colegio de Ingenieros Técnicos en Topografía (Delegación de La Rioja)[ES] Memoria de proyecto (PDF) [es el último fichero de la lista, el enlace directo es https://addi.ehu.es/bitstream/10810/7053/1053/ldgp_mem011-1_Clavijo_SanPrudencio.pdf] + 11 imágenes de la visita preliminar en abril de 2009, en formato JPEG + 19 nubes de puntos en formato txt (comprimido en ZIP junto a un fichero de metadatos y una imagen que sirve de croquis y que también se presenta suelta) + 27 fotografías tomadas desde un helicóptero radicontrolado en 2011 por el grupo H (JPEG) + 18 fotografías métricas del edificio en forma de -L- tomadas desde el Sur + 13 fotografías métricas del edificio en forma de -L- tomadas desde el Este + 95 fotografías métricas del interior del edificio en forma de -L- (JPEG) + 35 fotografías métricas tomadas desde el cerro que se encuentra al sur (JPEG) + 8 fotografías métricas que forman 4 pares estereoscópicos (2 del grupo B y 2 del grupo D) (JPEG) + 183 fotografías métricas que forman 91 tripletas (grupos B, C y D) (JPEG). [NOTA: este registro no está cerrado, se irán incorporando nuevos materiales de forma progresiva][EN] General report (PDF) [it is the last file of the list, the direct link is https://addi.ehu.es/bitstream/10810/7053/1053/ldgp_mem011-1_Clavijo_SanPrudencio.pdf] + 11 pictures taken during the preliminary visit in April 2009 (JPEG format) + 19 point clouds in plain text (compressed in a ZIP file together with a file with metadata and an image PNG as sketch, these image are also presented on their own) + 27 photographs taken from a remote-controlled helicopter for the group H in 2011(JPEG) + 18 metric pictures of the L-shaped building taken from the South (JPEG) + 13 metric pictures of the L-shaped building taken from the East (JPEG) + 95 metric pictures of the inside part of the L-shaped building (JPEG) + 35 metric photographs taken from the hill opposite in the Southern + 8 metric photographs in four stereopairs (2 from group B and 2 from group D) (JPEG) + 183 metric photographs arranged in 91 triplets from groups B, C and D (JPEG). [NOTE: this record is not closed, more data will be uploaded progressively

Toward optimizing the design of virtual environments for route learning: empirically assessing the effects of changing levels of realism on memory

Broadly, this paper is about designing memorable 3D geovisualizations for spatial knowledge acquisition during (virtual) navigation. Navigation is a fundamentally important task, and even though most people navigate every day, many find it difficult in unfamiliar environments. When people get lost in an unfamiliar environment, or are unable to remember a route that they took, they might feel anxiety, disappointment and frustration; and in real world, such incidents can be costly, and at times, life-threatening. Therefore, in this paper, we study the design decisions in terms of visual realism in a city model, propose a visualization design optimized for route learning, implement and empirically evaluate this design. The evaluation features a navigational route learning task, where we measure short- and long-term recall accuracy of 42 participants with varying spatial abilities and memory capacity. Our findings provide unique empirical evidence on how design choices affect memory in route learning with geovirtual environments, contributing toward empirically verified design guidelines for digital cities

A virtual reality experiment for improving the navigational recall: What can we learn from eye movements of high- and low-performing individuals?

In its broader scope, this paper is concerned about understanding how (visualization) designs of virtual environments (VE) interact with navigational memory. We optimized the design of a VE for route learning following specific visualization guidelines that we derived from previous literature, and tested it with a typical navigational recall task with 42 participants. Recall accuracies of our participants widely vary. We hypothesize that by analyzing the eye movements of high- and low-performing participants in a comparative manner, we can better understand this variability, and identify if these two groups rely on different visual strategies. Such efforts inform the visualization designs, and in turn, these designs can better assist people. Those who perform poorly in navigational tasks for reasons such as lack of training or differences in visuospatial abilities might especially benefit from such assistance. In this paper, we present our concept for a work-in-progress study and provide the relevant background

The utilization of publicly available map types by non-experts – a choice experiment

Assessing the fitness of map types for certain task types is a long-standing cartographic research challenge. One way to contribute to this research challenge is to study which map types people choose to use when they are given various tasks, thus documenting the current public preferences. While people’s choices may be expressions of bias to some degree, these may also be indications of appropriateness of these map types for the studied tasks. In this vein, we have conducted an online user study (n= 141, 74% male, 26% female) in which participants were given five map types to choose from while they executed 11 non-expert “everyday” map use tasks. In this paper, we report our findings on participant’s choices of map types associated with task types. Furthermore, we analyzed the map types in a categorized manner for 3D vs. non-3D, cartographic vs. photorealistic, and aerial perspective vs. first-person perspective and contrasted each with the task types

Investigating dynamic variables with eye movement analysis on topographic map

134 σ.Η διπλωματική εργασία αποτελεί τμήμα μιας εμπειρικής έρευνας που πραγματοποιήθηκε με σκοπό τη μελέτη του συνδυασμού των δυναμικών μεταβλητών της διάρκειας και του ρυθμού αλλαγής, ως παράγοντες που επηρεάζουν την οπτική αναζήτηση. Η διάρκεια αναφέρεται στο χρόνο έκθεσης των οπτικών σκηνών του πειράματος, ενώ ο ρυθμός αλλαγής, αφορά στο είδος της μετακίνησης ενός κινούμενου συμβόλου στο σταθερό υπόβαθρο. Προκύπτει έτσι, ένα κινούμενο σύμβολο-στόχος, το οποίο εξετάζεται ως προς τη δυνατότητα παρατήρησής του σε σταθερό υπόβαθρο. Η οπτική αυτή αναζήτηση ερευνάται τόσο σε λευκό υπόβαθρο, όσο και σε υπόβαθρο με τοπογραφικό χάρτη προκειμένου να εντοπιστεί η διαφοροποίηση που υπεισέρχεται. Το αντικείμενο της συγκεκριμένης διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι η εξέταση της οπτικής αναζήτησης στην περίπτωση που στις οπτικές σκηνές προβάλλεται ένας τοπογραφικός χάρτης ως υπόβαθρο. Τα αποτελέσματα των προσηλώσεων δίνουν χρήσιμα συμπεράσματα για το σχεδιασμό δυναμικών χαρτών και ενισχύεται η ανάγκη εφαρμογής της παρακολούθησης της κίνησης του ματιού για εξαγωγή αποτελεσμάτων που αφορούν στις προσηλώσεις των υποκειμένων. Τα αποτελέσματα που αφορούν στις προσηλώσεις πέραν του κινούμενου συμβόλου, συγκρίνονται με μοντέλα που εξάγουν χάρτες προσοχής για στατικές εικόνες, προκειμένου να διαπιστωθεί η αποτελεσματικότητα των μοντέλων στο συγκεκριμένο δυναμικό χάρτη. Επίσης, με βάση τις προσηλώσεις πέραν του κινούμενου συμβόλου, αναλύονται τα χαρακτηριστικά του υποβάθρου που προεξέχουν αμέσως μετά την κίνηση. Όλα τα παραπάνω χαρακτηριστικά, προσφέρουν χρήσιμες παρατηρήσεις για περαιτέρω έρευνα στους δυναμικούς χάρτες.The diploma thesis is a of an empirical study which has been conducted to investigate the dynamic variables using eye movement analysis. The study focuses on the investigation of the optimal range of values in the dynamic variable of the rate of change, when the magnitude of change is held constant while the variable of duration changes. The study is tested using two backgrounds with different level of abstraction (a topographic map and a blank background). This diploma thesis examines the reaction of subjects on the topographic background is examined. The results of the fixations reveal useful conclusions for the creation of dynamic maps-animations and also that the use of eye movement recordings analysis is essential. The fixations which do not refer to the moving target are compared to three different saliency models of static images, to examine the effectiveness of the models. These fixations are also examined to check the attributes that stand out apart from the motion. Through the findings of the study, many useful critical comments may arise for the use of dynamic maps-animations.Ισμήνη-Ελένη Φ. Λόκκ

User studies in cartography: opportunities for empirical research on interactive maps and visualizations

The possibility of digital interactivity requires us to reenvision the map reader as the map user, and to address the perceptual, cognitive, cultural, and practical considerations that influence the user’s experience with interactive maps and visualizations. In this article, we present an agenda for empirical research on this user and the interactive designs he or she employs. The research agenda is a result of a multi-stage discussion among international scholars facilitated by the International Cartographic Association that included an early round of position papers and two subsequent workshops to narrow into pressing themes and important research opportunities. The focus of our discussion is epistemological and reflects the wide interdisciplinary influences on user studies in cartography. The opportunities are presented as imperatives that cross basic research and user-centered design studies, and identify practical impediments to empirical research, emerging interdisciplinary recommendations to improve user studies, and key research needs specific to the study of interactive maps and visualizations. La possibilité de l’interactivité numérique nous pousse à revoir le lecteur de cartes comme un utilisateur de cartes et à traiter les considérations perceptuelles, cognitives, culturelles et pratiques qui influencent l’expérience d’un utilisateur de cartes et de visualisations interactives. Dans cet article nous présentons un agenda de recherche empirique sur cet utilisateur et sur les conceptions interactives qu’il ou elle réalise. L’agenda de recherche proposé est le résultat d’une discussion en plusieurs étapes menée par des spécialistes internationaux, facilitée par l’association cartographique internationale selon un processus comprenant un premier ensemble de papiers de positions, suivi de deux ateliers dont les objectifs étaient de se concentrer autour de thèmes prioritaires et d'opportunités de recherche majeures. L’objet de la discussion était épistémologique et reflète les larges influences interdisciplinaires des études portant sur les utilisateurs en cartographie. Les opportunités sont présentées comme des impératifs qui associent les recherches fondamentales aux études de conception centrées utilisateurs. Elles permettent d’identifier les obstacles pratiques aux recherches empiriques, les recommandations interdisciplinaires émergeantes pour améliorer les études des utilisateurs et les besoins de recherche prioritaires spécifiques à l’étude des cartes et visualisations interactives