Jörg Baus

A resource-adaptive mobile navigation system

The design of mobile navigation systems adapting to limited resources will be an important future challenge. Since typically several different means of transportation have to be combined in order to reach a destination, the user interface of such a system has to adapt to the users changing situation. This applies especially to the alternating use of different technologies to detect the users position, which should be as seamless as possible. This article presents a hybrid navigation system that relies on different technologies to determine the users location and that adapts the presentation of route directions to the limited technical resources of the output device and the limited cognitive resources of the user.

A hybrid indoor navigation system

We describe a hybrid building navigation system consisting of stationary information booths and a mobile communication infrastructure feeding small portable devices. The graphical presentations for both the booths and the mobile devices are generated from a common source and for the common task of way finding, but they use different techniques to convey possibly different subsets of the relevant information. The form of the presentations is depending on technical limitations of the output media, accuracy of location information, and cognitive restrictions of the user. We analyze what information needs to be conveyed, how limited resources influence the presentation of this information, and argue, that by generating all different presentations in a common framework, a consistent appearance across devices can be achieved and that the different device classes can complement each other in facilitating the navigation task.

Adaptive mobile guides

In this chapter we discuss various aspects of adaptive mobile guide applications. After having motivated the need for web based mobile applications, we will discuss technologies that are needed to enable adaptive mobile web applications, including not only positioning technologies but also sensor technologies needed to determine additional information on the context and situation of usage. We will also address issues of modeling context and situations before giving an overview on existing systems coming from three important classes of mobile guides: museum guides, navigation systems and shopping assistants. The chapter closes with an extensive discussion of relevant attributes of web based mobile guides.

Acquisition of spatial knowledge in location aware mobile pedestrian navigation systems

In this paper we regard the navigation aid provided by mobile navigation systems in a real environment and the effects of these mobile assistants to the development of spatial knowledge. Therefore, we report on a user study concerning the acquisition of spatial knowledge. This study sets up on a former study described by Krüger and colleagues and sheds light on problems concerning the acquisition of survey knowledge while being navigated by a mobile handheld PC.

Augmenting buildings with infrared information

We describe a building information and navigation system based on Palm Pilot PDAs and a set of strong infrared transmitters, located throughout a building. The infrared senders stream localized data, thus effectively augmenting areas of space with localized information. This information can be perceived by just entering those areas with the PDA in your hand. We show that this form of augmentation of an environment can serve a multitude of purposes and requires neither the employment of classic 3D augmented reality nor to carry around wearable computers nor to wear head mounted displays.

Navigation assistance: a trade-off between wayfinding support and configural learning support

Current GPS-based mobile navigation assistance systems support wayfinding, but they do not support learning about the spatial configuration of an environment. The present study examined effects of visual presentation modes for navigation assistance on wayfinding accuracy, route learning, and configural learning. Participants (high-school students) visited a university campus for the first time and took a predefined assisted tour. In Experiment 1 (n = 84, 42 females), a presentation mode showing wayfinding information from eye-level was contrasted with presentation modes showing wayfinding information included in views that provided comprehensive configural information. In Experiment 2 (n = 48, 24 females), wayfinding information was included in map fragments. A presentation mode which always showed north on top of the device was compared with a mode which rotated according to the orientation of the user. Wayfinding accuracy (deviations from the route), route learning, and configural learning (direction estimates, sketch maps) were assessed. Results indicated a trade-off between wayfinding and configural learning: Presentation modes providing comprehensive configural information supported the acquisition of configural knowledge at the cost of accurate wayfinding. The route presentation mode supported wayfinding at the cost of configural knowledge acquisition. Both presentation modes based on map fragments supported wayfinding. Individual differences in visual-spatial working memory capacity explained a considerable portion of the variance in wayfinding accuracy, route learning, and configural learning. It is concluded that learning about an unknown environment during assisted navigation is based on the integration of spatial information from multiple sources and can be supported by appropriate visualization.

The digital sommelier: interacting with intelligent products

We present the Digital Sommelier, an interactive wine shopping assistant that provides an intuitive multi-modal interface to general product information as well as to particular attributes of a certain product, such as its current temperature. Wine bottles sense their state via attached wireless sensors and detect user interaction over RFID and acceleration sensors. Visitors can inquire information either through physical interaction with products or a natural language interface. We describe a framework and toolkit for efficient prototyping of sensor based applications as the foundation for the integration of different sensor networks utilized by the sommelier. We further introduce our concept of talking products, an anthropomorphic interaction pattern that allows customers to directly talk to products with personalities.

Product associated displays in a shopping scenario

In this paper, we introduce the concept of product associated displays -PADs - as a way of providing visual feedback to users interacting with physical objects in an instrumented environment. PADs are projected public displays created at locations that can be intuitively associated with the objects they show information about. The concept is illustrated in a shopping scenario.

REAL: Ein ressourcenadaptierendes mobiles Navigationssystem

Zusammenfassung. Die intelligente Ressourcenadaption ist eine der großen Herausforderungen für die nächste Generation mobiler Navigationssysteme. Da man typischerweise mehrere Fortbewegungsarten oder Verkehrsmittel kombinieren muss, um an einen Zielort zu gelangen, muss sichergestellt werden, dass mobile, allgegenwärtige Navigationshilfen dies über eine jeweils situationsangepasste Benutzerschnittstelle unterstützen. Der notwendige Wechsel zwischen verschiedenen Positionierungstechnologien soll für den Endbenutzer möglichst unbemerkt bleiben. Im folgenden wird ein hybrides Personennavigationssystem vorgestellt, das die in bestimmten Fortbewegungssituationen verfügbaren Positionierungstechnologien und deren Genauigkeit optimal nutzt, um die Präsentation der Wegbeschreibung auf verschiedene Endgeräte und Ausgabemodalitäten sowie die kognitive Ressourcenlage des Benutzers zu adaptieren.Abstract. The design of mobile navigation systems adapting to limited resources will be an important future challenge. Since several different means of transportation have typically to be combined in order to reach a destination, it must be ensured that the user interface reacts to the users changing situation. Especially the alternating use of different technologies to detect the users position should be as seamless as possible. This article presents a hybrid navigation system that adapts the presentation of route directions to the limited technical resources of the output device and the limited cognitive resources of the user while taking into account varying positional information.

Sharing Memories of Smart Products and their Consumers in Instrumented Environments Austausch digitaler Gedächtnisse von Produkten und Konsumenten in instrumentierten Umgebungen

Summary Intelligent assistants need precise knowledge about activity sequences and the habits of their users so as to support them in an adequate manner. The following contribution addresses an approach to user support, which takes advantage of the object centred nature of many day-to-day activities. By means of application examples from the everyday, we illustrate how a combination of smart items and digital memories allows for realizing innovative support mechanisms, which take into account static knowledge about objects as well as situational observations and historical data. Here, we devote special attention to applications originating from the sharing of data gathered this way between users and systems. Zusammenfassung Intelligente Assistenten benötigen präzises Wissen über Handlungsabläufe und Gewohnheiten ihres Benutzers, um diesen in adäquater Weise unterstützen zu können. Der folgende Beitrag behandelt einen Ansatz zur Benutzerunterstützung, der sich die objektzentrierte Natur vieler Alltagshandlungen zu Nutze macht. Wir illustrieren anhand von Anwendungsbeispielen, wie durch die Kombination von Smart Items und digitalen Gedächtnissen innovative Formen der Benutzerunterstützung möglich werden, die statisches Wissen über Objekte mit dynamischen Informationen und historischen Daten kombinieren. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit widmen wir hierbei Anwendungsmöglichkeiten, die aus dem Austausch der so gewonnenen Daten zwischen Benutzern und Systemen entstehen.