Simon J. Büchner

Taxonomy of Human Wayfinding Tasks: A Knowledge-Based Approach

Abstract Although the term “Wayfinding” has been defined by several authors, it subsumes a whole set of tasks that involve different cognitive processes, drawing on different cognitive components. Research on wayfinding has been conducted with different paradigms using a variety of wayfinding tasks. This makes it difficult to compare the results and implications of many studies. A systematic classification is needed in order to determine and investigate the cognitive processes and structural components of how humans solve wayfinding problems. Current classifications of wayfinding distinguish tasks on a rather coarse level or do not take the navigators knowledge, a key factor in wayfinding, into account. We present an extended taxonomy of wayfinding that distinguishes tasks by external constraints as well as by the level of spatial knowledge that is available to the navigator. The taxonomy will help to decrease ambiguity of wayfinding tasks and it will facilitate understanding of the differentiated demands a navigator faces when solving wayfinding problems.

Gaze behaviour during space perception and spatial decision making

A series of four experiments investigating gaze behavior and decision making in the context of wayfinding is reported. Participants were presented with screenshots of choice points taken in large virtual environments. Each screenshot depicted alternative path options. In Experiment 1, participants had to decide between them to find an object hidden in the environment. In Experiment 2, participants were first informed about which path option to take as if following a guided route. Subsequently, they were presented with the same images in random order and had to indicate which path option they chose during initial exposure. In Experiment 1, we demonstrate (1) that participants have a tendency to choose the path option that featured the longer line of sight, and (2) a robust gaze bias towards the eventually chosen path option. In Experiment 2, systematic differences in gaze behavior towards the alternative path options between encoding and decoding were observed. Based on data from Experiments 1 and 2 and two control experiments ensuring that fixation patterns were specific to the spatial tasks, we develop a tentative model of gaze behavior during wayfinding decision making suggesting that particular attention was paid to image areas depicting changes in the local geometry of the environments such as corners, openings, and occlusions. Together, the results suggest that gaze during a wayfinding tasks is directed toward, and can be predicted by, a subset of environmental features and that gaze bias effects are a general phenomenon of visual decision making.

Map use and wayfinding strategies in a multi-building ensemble

This experiment investigated the role of familiarity, map usage and instruction on wayfinding strategies and performance. 32 participants had to find eight goals in a multilevel building ensemble consisting of two distinctive vertical segments. Generally users who were familiar with the building ensemble outperformed first-time visitors of the setting. We tested if the standard wall-mounted floor maps found in the majority of public buildings can help navigation in a complex unknown environment. Unfamiliar users tried to make use of these plans more frequently, but were not able to compensate for spatial knowledge deficits through them. Two strategies of across-level wayfinding are compared with respect to a region-based hierarchical planning approach. Strategy selection relied largely on task and instruction characteristics. Overall, the strategy of moving horizontally into the target section of the building prior to vertical travel was shown to be more effective in this multi-building setting.

Perspective tracking in the real world: Gaze angle analysis in a collaborative wayfinding task

In collaborative wayfinding, partners jointly search the environment for task-relevant information. Studies on collaborative search suggest that it is most efficient to divide the search space so that each partner monitors only the space in front of herself. Cooperation, in contrast, requires the establishment of a perceptual common ground to coordinate actions. This is achieved by tracking the partners perspective. To investigate these conflicting demands, we used mobile eye tracking and compared gaze behavior during individual and collaborative wayfinding. We introduce gaze angle analysis, a way of analyzing eye tracking data with respect to gaze direction. Our results show that partners, compared to individuals, shift their gazes towards their partners side. This supports perspective tracking and contradicts spatial division-of-labor.

Impact of Regionalization and Detour on Ad-hoc Path Choice

Abstract Regionalization has been found to impact human route planning, both when the planning is based on a previously learned environment encoded in memory and when maps are used. This paper presents an experiment in a virtual desktop environment and examines how the length of the path in the start region or goal region impacts ad-hoc route choice, i.e., in situations where the decision is made right after perceiving the decision situation. More specifically, this research aims at quantifying the trade-off value between short travel distances and leaving the start as well as reaching the goal region quicker, respectively.