Examining the validity of the total dwell time of eye fixations to identify landmarks in a building

It is uncertain to what extent the duration of eye fixations reflects the use of landmarks during navigation. Therefore, a study was conducted in which eye tracking data and route descriptions were collected of 23 participants who were highly familiar with the indoor test environment. Based on the total fixation time on different landmark categories, two measures were calculated, namely the calculated landmark category use and the probable landmark category use. Based on the ratio between these measures an object was considered to be a landmark or not. The results were then compared with the objects referenced to in written route instructions. It can be concluded that promising results were provided by this method to identify landmarks. This landmark identification criterion strongly reflected the landmarks that came forward in the written route instructions. However, issues related to the identification of structural landmarks remain a problem

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

Exploring hypotheses on karez initiation and decline in the Flaming Mountains from a photo modelling campaign

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3D modelling Yar City : application of UAVs for archaeological research

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Indoor landmark-based path-finding utilising the expanded connectivity of an endpoint partition

Landmarks are ideal wayfinding tools to guide a person from A to B as they allow fast reasoning and efficient communication. However, very few path-finding algorithms start from the availability of landmarks to generate a path. In this paper, which focuses on indoor wayfinding, a landmark-based path-finding algorithm is presented in which the endpoint partition is proposed as spatial model of the environment. In this model, the indoor environment is divided into convex sub-shapes, called e-spaces, that are stable with respect to the visual information provided by a person's surroundings (e.g. walls, landmarks). The algorithm itself implements a breadth-first search on a graph in which mutually visible e-spaces suited for wayfinding are connected. The results of a case study, in which the calculated paths were compared with their corresponding shortest paths, show that the proposed algorithm is a valuable alternative for Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm. It is able to calculate a path with a minimal amount of actions that are linked to landmarks, while the path length increase is comparable to the increase observed when applying other path algorithms that adhere to natural wayfinding behaviour. However, the practicability of the proposed algorithm is highly dependent on the availability of landmarks and on the spatial configuration of the building

Thinking aloud in search of landmark characteristics in an indoor environment

The last decade has seen an increase in the attention towards indoor space and its applications. Within this research topic, landmarks play an important role as these distinct objects exert important functions in the context of navigation and in the construction of a cognitive model of an environment. However, compared to outdoor research, little research has been conducted related to indoor landmarks and their specific characteristics with respect to their use and description. Therefore, the presented study aims to investigate when or where landmarks are mostly needed during a navigational task in a building and how they are verbally expressed. In order to examine these aspects, eleven test persons completed a route in a complex building. While navigating, they had to think out loud and their verbal descriptions were analyzed and compared. The results of this study show that landmarks were most needed on locations where a change of orientation took place. In addition, most referrals were made to objects near the observer. Furthermore, participants preferred to use common nouns to refer to a landmark and more detailing was given by specifying color and material. Finally, the results indicate that predominantly the same elements form the basis to identify an indoor landmark as an outdoor landmark, namely visual, structural and semantic features