Gender differences in relation to wayfinding strategies, navigational support design, and wayfinding task difficulty

This study investigated user wayfinding navigational performance in terms of two navigational support designs (guide sign and you-are-here map, i.e., YAH), wayfinding strategies (egocentric/route and allocentric/survey), task difficulty (terrestrial/2D or weightless/3D), and gender differences. Eighty participants (40 males and 40 females) were recruited for the wayfinding experiment. The experimental results and statistical analysis indicated that, in the weightless VR scene, navigation time for the terrestrial/2D task type was significantly shorter than for the weightless/3D task type. The guide sign support was significantly more effective than YAH map support. Moreover, the interactions between support style and gender difference indicated that males exhibit better wayfinding performance than females, but that appropriate support can improve navigational performance and eliminate gender differences. In addition, the Way-Finding Strategy Scale result showed that the females were more likely to adopt the egocentric strategy while males were more likely to adopt the allocentric strategy, and that their scores were negatively correlated with navigational performance. Our results can be used to evaluate the interface designs of navigational support systems taking into consideration gender differences with respect to 3D VR games, including VR diving or flying navigational systems.     

Wayfinding with a GPS-based mobile navigation system: A comparison with maps and direct experience

This study examined the effectiveness of a Global Positioning System (GPS)-based mobile navigation system in comparison to paper maps and direct experience of routes, by focusing on the user's wayfinding behavior and acquired spatial knowledge. Based on information received from one of these three media, participants walked six routes finding the way to goals. Results showed that GPS users traveled longer distances and made more stops during the walk than map users and direct-experience participants. Also, GPS users traveled more slowly, made larger direction errors, drew sketch maps with poorer topological accuracy, and rated wayfinding tasks as more difficult than direct-experience participants. Characteristics of navigation with these three learning media and possible reasons for the ineffectiveness of the GPS-based navigation system are discussed.     

Planning routes around the world: International evidence for southern route preferences

Three studies test whether the southern route preference, which describes the tendency for route planners to disproportionately select south- rather than north-going routes, can be attributed to regional elevation patterns; specifically, we ask whether this effect replicates in three topographically disparate international regions, one of which is characterized by higher elevations to the north and lower to the south (Padua, Italy), and two characterized by higher elevations to the south and lower to the north (Enschede, Netherlands; Sofia, Bulgaria). In all cases, we found strong evidence that route planners disproportionately select south- rather than north-going routes at rates exceeding chance. We conclude that the southern route preference is driven by strong associations between canonical direction and perceived effort of route traversal; these effects are somewhat perplexing given that such associations are not founded in the reality of physical space.     

The effects of color and light on indoor wayfinding and the evaluation of the perceived environment

This study was designed to explore the effects of color and light on indoor wayfinding and the subjective judgments of those perceiving the environment. Furthermore, how problems experienced in buildings with complex floor plans and successive spaces are addressed using variables such as color, brightness, and correlated color temperature through a desktop virtual reality environment. The experiment was conducted with the participation of 102 university students who experienced the indoor environments with various color and light variables, and evaluated these environments using concrete concepts like clear/blurry, attractive/unattractive, navigable/unnavigable and inviting/repellent. The scores for attractiveness and remembrance of warm colors were found to be higher than those for other colors, and the median scores for the positive perception of correlated color temperature were found to be higher than those concerning high and low level temperatures. However, it was confirmed that the use of warm and cool colors in indoor environments with low light levels were not taken into consideration by users of a space and were perceived negatively. Moreover, it was determined that compared to the males, females preferred high brightness levels.     

Up the down staircase: Wayfinding strategies in multi-level buildings

The intention of this article is to create a link between human spatial cognition research and architectural design. We conducted an empirical study with human subjects in a complex multi-level building and compared thinking aloud protocols and performance measures of experienced and inexperienced participants in different wayfinding tasks. Three specific strategies for navigation in multi-level buildings were compared. The central point strategy relies on well-known parts of the building; the direction strategy relies on routes that first head towards the horizontal position of the goal, while the floor strategy relies on routes that first head towards the vertical position of the goal. We show that the floor strategy was preferred by experienced participants over the other strategies and was overall tied to better wayfinding performance. Route knowledge showed a greater impact on wayfinding performance compared to survey knowledge. A cognitive-architectural analysis of the building revealed seven possible causes for navigation problems. Especially the staircase design was identified as a major wayfinding obstacle. Finally we address the benefits of cognitive approaches for the architectural design process and describe some open issues for further research.     

Adaptivity of wayfinding strategies in a multi-building ensemble: The effects of spatial structure, task requirements, and metric information

This study investigates the adaptivity of wayfinding strategies in a real-world setting of a multi-building ensemble. Familiarity with the environment, map usage and verbal vs. visual task instructions were systematically varied. Measures included path choices, wayfinding performance and information usage. Thirty-two participants had to find eight goals in a multi-level building ensemble consisting of two distinctive building parts. It was tested whether 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 compared to participants familiar with the setting. Two strategies of multi-level wayfinding were compared with respect to a region-based hierarchical planning approach. Strategy selection could be shown to be highly adaptive to spatial properties of the environment as well as characteristics of the task instruction, i.e., spatial precision of target information. Overall, the strategy of moving horizontally into the target building prior to vertical travel was shown to be more effective in this multi-building setting.     

Gender differences in wayfinding in virtual environments with global or local landmarks

This study assesses gender differences in wayfinding in environments with global or local landmarks by analyzing both overall and fine-grained measures of performance. Both female and male participants were required to locate targets in grid-like virtual environments with local or global landmarks. Interestingly, the results of the two overall measures did not converge: although females spent more time than males in locating targets, both genders were generally equivalent in terms of corrected travel path. Fine-grained measures account for different aspects of wayfinding behavior and provide additional information that explains the divergence in overall measures; females spent less time traveling away from the target location, a higher proportion of time not traversing, and made more rotations when stopping than males did. Rather than unequivocally supporting male superiority in wayfinding tasks, both the overall and fine-grained measures partially indicate that males and females are differentially superior when using global and local landmark information, respectively. To summarize, males moved faster than females but did not necessarily navigate the spatial surroundings more efficiently. Each gender showed different strengths related to wayfinding; these differences require the application of both overall and fine-grained measures for accurate assessment.