Wayfinding in Complex Multi-storey Buildings: A vision-simulation-augmented wayfinding protocol study

Wayfinding in complex multi-storey buildings often brings newcomers and even some frequent visitors uncertainty and stress. However, there is little understanding on wayfinding in 3D structure which contains inter-storey and inter-building travelling. This paper presents the method of vision-simulation-augmented wayfinding protocol for the study of such 3D structure to find its application from investigating pedestrians’ wayfinding behaviour in general-purpose complex multi-storey buildings. Based on Passini’s studies as a starting point, an exploratory quasi-experiment was developed during the study and then conducted in a daily wayfinding context, adopting wayfinding protocol method with augmentation by the real-time vision simulation. The purpose is to identify people’s natural wayfinding strategies in natural settings, for both frequent visitors and newcomers. It is envisioned that the findings of the study can inspire potential design solutions for supporting pedestrian’s wayfinding in 3D indoor spaces. From the new method developed and new analytic framework, several findings were identified which differ from other wayfinding literature, such as (1) people seem to directly “make sense” of wayfinding settings, (2) people could translate recurring actions into unconscious operational behaviours, and (3) physical rotation and constrained views, instead of vertical travelling itself, should be problems for wayfinding process, etc. Keywords: Wayfinding Protocol; Real-time Vision Simulation; 3D Indoor Space; Activity Theory; Structure of Wayfinding process</p

Wayfinding and Glaucoma: A Virtual Reality Experiment.

PurposeWayfinding, the process of determining and following a route between an origin and a destination, is an integral part of everyday tasks. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of glaucomatous visual field loss on wayfinding behavior using an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 31 glaucomatous patients and 20 healthy subjects without evidence of overall cognitive impairment. Wayfinding experiments were modeled after the Morris water maze navigation task and conducted in an immersive VR environment. Two rooms were built varying only in the complexity of the visual scene in order to promote allocentric-based (room A, with multiple visual cues) versus egocentric-based (room B, with single visual cue) spatial representations of the environment. Wayfinding tasks in each room consisted of revisiting previously visible targets that subsequently became invisible.ResultsFor room A, glaucoma patients spent on average 35.0 seconds to perform the wayfinding task, whereas healthy subjects spent an average of 24.4 seconds (P = 0.001). For room B, no statistically significant difference was seen on average time to complete the task (26.2 seconds versus 23.4 seconds, respectively; P = 0.514). For room A, each 1-dB worse binocular mean sensitivity was associated with 3.4% (P = 0.001) increase in time to complete the task.ConclusionsGlaucoma patients performed significantly worse on allocentric-based wayfinding tasks conducted in a VR environment, suggesting visual field loss may affect the construction of spatial cognitive maps relevant to successful wayfinding. VR environments may represent a useful approach for assessing functional vision endpoints for clinical trials of emerging therapies in ophthalmology

User preferences on route instruction types for mobile indoor route guidance

Adaptive mobile wayfinding systems are being developed to ease wayfinding in the indoor environment. They present wayfinding information to the user, which is adapted to the context. Wayfinding information can be communicated by using different types of route instructions, such as text, photos, videos, symbols or a combination thereof. The need for a different type of route instruction may vary at decision points, for example because of its complexity. Furthermore, these needs may be different for different user characteristics (e.g., age, gender, level of education). To determine this need for information, an online survey has been executed where participants rated 10 different route instruction types at several decision points in a case study building. Results show that the types with additional text were preferred over those without text. The photo instructions, combined with text, generally received the highest ratings, especially from first-time visitors. 3D simulations were appreciated at complex decision points and by younger people. When text (with symbols) is considered as a route instruction type, it is best used for the start or end instruction

Spatial ability, urban wayfinding and location-based services:a review and first results

Location-Based Services (LBS) are a new industry at the core of which are GISand spatial databases. With increasing mobility of individuals, the anticipatedavailability of broadband communications for mobile devices and growingvolumes of location specific information available in databases there willinevitably be an increase in demand for services providing location relatedinformation to people on the move. New Information and CommunicationTechnologies (NICTs) are providing enhanced possibilities for navigating ?smartcities?. Urban environments, meanwhile, have increasing spatial complexity.Navigating urban environments is becoming an important issue. The time is ripefor a re-appraisal of urban wayfinding. This paper critically reviews the currentLBS applications and raises a series of questions with regard to LBS for urbanwayfinding. Research is being carried out to measure individuals? spatialability/awareness and their degree of preference for using LBS in wayfinding. Themethodology includes both the use of questionnaires and a virtual reality CAVE.Presented here are the results of the questionnaire survey which indicate therelationships between individuals? spatial ability, use of NICTs and modepreference for receiving wayfinding cues. Also discussed are our future researchdirections on LBS, particular on issues of urban wayfinding using NICTs

Achieving a lean wayfinding system in complex hospital environments: Design and Through-life Management

Complex products, such as buildings and other infrastructure, should aim to provide value to the customer over all stages of the product life-cycle. This paper considers some of the challenges associated with maximising customer value when designing, producing, implementing and maintaining a wayfinding system for complex hospital environments. The hypothesis of this paper is that the tri-partite conception of knowledge flow provides a robust evaluative framework for the problems of wayfinding in complex hospital environments. The framework supplements the concepts of information and practice, conventionally applied in knowledge management, with a conception of physical objects and environments as knowledge carrying entities which are constituted, recognised and used in the course of social practice. From a lean perspective, the problems of wayfinding must be reduced or eliminated through adopting a lean knowledge management approach. A review of knowledge management, design, wayfinding and lean literature, together with ongoing participant action research at Salford Royal hospital, are reported in this paper. To ensure that wayfinding information remains immortal throughout the long life cycles of the building, a Through Life Management (TLM) approach is suggested. Thus TLM is viewed as an important consideration in lean construction

Parent Reports of Wayfinding by Their Children with Down Syndrome

Background: Navigating the environment, or wayfinding, is integral to independent living. Laboratory studies have consistently indicated an impairment in wayfinding in people with Down syndrome (DS). However, very little is known regarding their real-life wayfinding abilities. Method: Eighty-six parents of children with DS completed an online survey on their children’s wayfinding behaviours and their own feelings and expectations about their children’s wayfinding. Results: Parents reported their children had few wayfinding skills, yet much confidence in their own abilities. Many parents had taught/planned to teach their children wayfinding skills. Parents also expressed concerns over their children’s independent wayfinding. Parents teaching wayfinding and parents’ concern predicted their assessment of their children’s wayfinding competence and knowledge. Children’s age and sex, as well as parents’ concerns predicted assessment of children’s confidence in wayfinding. Conclusions: Our results identified key factors related to wayfinding behaviours in people with DS. Parental factors are especially important in predicting their children’s wayfinding behaviour

Three levels of metric for evaluating wayfinding

Three levels of virtual environment (VE) metric are proposed, based on: (1) users’ task performance (time taken, distance traveled and number of errors made), (2) physical behavior (locomotion, looking around, and time and error classification), and (3) decision making (i.e., cognitive) rationale (think aloud, interview and questionnaire). Examples of the use of these metrics are drawn from a detailed review of research into VE wayfinding. A case study from research into the fidelity that is required for efficient VE wayfinding is presented, showing the unsuitability in some circumstances of common metrics of task performance such as time and distance, and the benefits to be gained by making fine-grained analyses of users’ behavior. Taken as a whole, the article highlights the range of techniques that have been successfully used to evaluate wayfinding and explains in detail how some of these techniques may be applied

Finding a way: long-term care homes to support dementia

An ageing demographic has increased the number of people with dementia. Although dementia is commonly associated with memory loss, other early symptoms include difficulty with wayfinding. Dementia alters visuo-spatial perception and the processes used to interpret the physical environment. The role of the design of the physical environment for people with dementia has gained increased recognition. Despite this, design for dementia is often overlooked, focusing on issues relating to physical impairment. This paper presents the results of a PhD study and aims to examine the role of the design of the physical environment in supporting wayfinding for people with dementia living in long-term care settings in Northern Ireland. Mixed methods combined the observation of wayfinding walks and conversational style interviews to elicit perspectives and experiences of residents with dementia. The findings aim to promote well-being for those with dementia living in long-term care settings

Evaluating distributed cognitive resources for wayfinding in a desktop virtual environment.

As 3D interfaces, and in particular virtual environments, become increasingly realistic there is a need to investigate the location and configuration of information resources, as distributed in the humancomputer system, to support any required activities. It is important for the designer of 3D interfaces to be aware of information resource availability and distribution when considering issues such as cognitive load on the user. This paper explores how a model of distributed resources can support the design of alternative aids to virtual environment wayfinding with varying levels of cognitive load. The wayfinding aids have been implemented and evaluated in a desktop virtual environment