This exploratory work evaluated the type of route instruction participants find helpful during a wayfinding task in different real-world environments. Many people today depend on navigation applications to find an unfamiliar destination. However, some people may struggle when following only instructions (without the map) that contain precise information such as street names, distances, and cardinal directions like what is indicated in navigation apps, unlike human-generated instructions with more landmarks. In this study, a between-subject experiment design was conducted on adult participants unfamiliar with the study areas' routes. They were assessed for their familiarity and were randomly assigned to each site (a university campus and a park) with different spatial layouts. They received two types of instructions for a pre-defined route. One group first received the human-generated instructions and changed to machine-generated instructions in the second half of the route. After the wayfinding task, they were asked to draw a sketch map to assess their acquired knowledge. The results showed more deviations and stops when following machine-generated instructions, specifically in the park with a circular layout. The sketch maps showed what they learned along the route and revealed survey and route-like characteristics. The study suggests that the type of route instructions affects the wayfinding performance of people and what they learn in an unfamiliar environment. The paper contributes to studies that restructure machine-generated route instructions into nature-like instructions for humans to follow easily.

Authors:
Vanessa Joy Anacta, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Vanessa Joy Anacta is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at University of the Philippines Diliman in Philippines

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