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Supporting Map-based Wayfinding with Tactile Cues by Martin Pielot; Niels Henze; Susanne Boll is a scholarly article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Supporting Map-based Wayfinding with Tactile Cues about?

Paper maps are a proven means for navigating in unfamiliar environments, however, they do not prevent people from getting lost or taking unwanted detours. A well-known issue is interpreting the map's geocentric content, which is known to become prone to errors when the map is not aligned to the environment. In this paper we report our investigation of providing a cue about the destination's location from an egocentric perspective in order to improve the interpretation of the map. We used a vibrotactile belt to continuously indicate a destination's direction relative to the user's orientation. In an outdoor field study we compared the performance of map-based navigation with and without the added tactile cue. We found evidence that people take shorter routes, consult the map less often, and were less often disoriented with the tactile cue. Furthermore, females found the tactile cue more useful and used it more often.

Author

Martin Pielot; Niels Henze; Susanne Boll

Publisher

ACM

Published

2009

Language

EN