Wayfinding Through Orientation

Dominant approaches in computer-assisted wayfinding support adhere to the deeply problematic principles of turn-by-turn navigation. In this article, we suggest a new approach called “Wayfinding Through Orientation,” which supports the acquisition of spatial knowledge and cognitive mapping for advancing the user’s spatial orientation. Being oriented on one’s way is a prerequisite to enabling people to verify instructions and to incorporate new spatial information into their existing knowledge structure. In three studies described in this article we first present empirical evidence that people can be supported in survey knowledge acquisition through suitable wayfinding instructions. Consequently, we explore orientation information in human wayfinding instructions. Finally, we outline how orientation information can be communicated within a prototypically implemented navigation assistance system.     

Learning Routes from Visualizations for Indoor Wayfinding: Presentation Modes and Individual Differences

Abstract

Participants (N = 78) studied a visualization of a route through a complex building and walked that route in the real building without further assistance. Erroneous turns on the route as well as indicators of uncertainty such as hesitations were assessed. Three types of route visualizations were compared: (1) an allocentric, map-based visualization with the route indicated in floor maps, (2) an ordered sequence of pictures of decision points shown from the egocentric perspective, and (3) an animation showing a virtual walk of the route from the egocentric perspective. In addition to the experimental variation, gender differences, differences in visual-spatial abilities and differences in self-reported wayfinding strategies were considered as predictor variables. Wayfinding performance did not differ between allocentric (map) and egocentric (decision point pictures and animation) visualizations. However, wayfinding performance was better with animated than with static egocentric visualizations. Individual differences in the ability to encode visual-spatial information from the visualization played a critical role for route learning. Self-reported sense of direction related to egocentric wayfinding strategies also predicted wayfinding performance. Gender differences were attributable to differences in visual-spatial abilities and egocentric wayfinding strategies. Interactions between visualizations and individual differences were not found. It is concluded that animations of virtual walks are suitable to convey route information in complex buildings. Successful acquisition of route knowledge from maps is possible but might depend on the comprehensibility of the structure of the building.     

Influence of estimation errors on wayfinding-decisions in unknown street networks – analyzing the least-angle strategy

The least-angle strategy is a common wayfinding method that can be applied in unknown environments if the target direction is known. The strategy is based on the navigator's heuristic to select the street segment at an intersection which is most in line with the target direction. To use this strategy, the navigator needs to know the angles between the target direction and the street segments leading out from the intersection. If the direct view to the target is blocked and the target vector cannot be perceived, the target direction that is needed for the decision process is based on the agent's believed position and orientation (estimated through path integration). The agent's believed position and target direction are distorted by human errors in estimation of distances and directions, mainly affecting the path integration process. In this paper we examine how human estimation errors of distance and rotation influence the decision behavior in the wayfinding process in an unknown street environment. To demonstrate the geometrical consequences for a specific test case, we use a simulated software agent which navigates in a simulated street environment.     

Wayfinding Performance in and the Spatial Knowledge of a Color-coded Building for Adults and Children

The study reported here investigates the effect color has on the performance in a wayfinding task,the wayfinding strategies used and the acquisition of survey knowledge of a total of sixty participants: twenty second graders,sixth graders, and adults each. All participants had to find their way to a goal in a virtual environment with either a colored or a gray ground. After that,they had to find the shortest way from the start position to the goal in two consecutive trials,to draw a sketch map of the maze,and to mark the position of the goal figure in an overview of the maze. The results showed that color helped all participants to improve their performance in the wayfinding task, influenced the use of some wayfinding strategies but did not improve the acquisition of survey knowledge. Furthermore, there was a developmental achievement from second graders to adults. The results implicate firstly that children and adults similarly rely on the structuring of space through color when navigating through an unfamiliar large-scale environment,and secondly that there is a dissociation between wayfinding behavior and spatial knowledge.     

Selection of Salient Features for Route Directions

People navigating in unfamiliar environments rely on wayfinding directions, either given by people familiar with the place, or given by maps or wayfinding services. The essential role of landmarks in human route communication is well-known. However, mapping the human ability to select landmarks ad hoc for route directions to a computational model was never tried before. Wayfinding services manage the problem by using predefined points of interest. These points are not automatically identified, and they are not related to any route. In contrast, here a computational model is presented that selects salient features along a route where needed, e.g., at decision points. We propose measures to formally specify the salience of a feature. The observed values of these measures are subject to stochastical tests in order to identify the most salient features from datasets. The proposed model is implemented and checked for computability with a use case from the city of Vienna. It is also crosschecked with a human subject survey for landmarks along a given route. The survey provides evidence that the proposed model selects features that are strongly correlated to human concepts of landmarks. Hence, integrating the selected salient features in wayfinding directions will produce directions with lower cognitive workload and higher success rates, compared to directions based only on geometry, or on geometry and static points of interest.     

Age differences in adults' spatial abilities,learning environmental layout,and wayfinding behavior

Empirical relations among age, general spatialability as assessed by psychometric tests,wayfinding-related skills as assessed byexperimental tasks in the laboratory,environmental layout learning as assessed in afield experiment, and wayfinding behavior asobserved in a field experiment were modeled ina study involving 120 younger and 120 olderadults. The best-fitting model showed thatage-related differences in learningenvironmental layout were significantly, butnot exclusively, mediated by a single abilityfactor defined by psychometric tests. Knowledge of environmental layout was theexclusive mediator between general spatialability and wayfinding behavior. Thus, agedifferences in psychometric test performancewere found to be a major factor in accountingfor aging-related decline in learningenvironmental layout, but other variables notassessed in this study also play a significantrole.     

Obtaining normal mode parameters from modal survey tests

Spacecraft structures are designed to fulfill various tasks and must therefore be qualified for these tasks. From the point of view of structural dynamics, it is to be proved that the structures will withstand the vibrations due to impulses and shocks during launch and mission and to guarantee that certain prescribed values of acceleration will not be exceeded to protect measuring instruments and sensors. The knowledge of the normal mode parameters is a suitable basis to solve these problems of structural dynamics. In the second part it was shown that the normal mode parameters of aircraft and spacecraft structures can be measured in an acceptable period and through moderate effort using the classical phase resonance method. Additional improvement may be possible by advanced modal survey test (MST) methods.     

Expert Algorithmic and Imagistic Problem Solving Strategies in Advanced Chemistry

Abstract

Visualization and imagistic reasoning appear central to expert practice in science; however, expert use of these strategies on authentic tasks has not been examined in detail. This study documents how science experts use both algorithms and imagistic reasoning to solve problems. Using protocol analysis, we report expert chemists' preferential use of algorithms for solving spatial problems and imagistic reasoning for deducing spatial transformations. We observed experts employ algorithms to solve the majority of spatial tasks while reserving imagistic strategies to solve a class of tasks that required translating between representations. Strategy used varied widely among experts and tasks.     

The Influence of Landmarks and Pre-exposure to a Structural Map During the Process of Spatial Knowledge Acquisition: A Study with Children and Adults in a Virtual Environment

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effects of featural information (landmarks) and geometric information (pre-exposure to a structural map) and their possible interaction during the process of spatial knowledge acquisition of 8- and 11-year-old children and adults in a virtual environment. The study confirmed the well-known result of a developmental achievement in spatial cognition from childhood to adulthood. Although landmarks and the pre-exposure to a structural map did not affect the time to learn a specific route, they influenced the use of behavior in spatial learning and eased the acquisition of spatial knowledge measured by a route reversal and map-drawing tasks. Children and adults are able to integrate featural and geometric information in the spatial knowledge acquisition process in an environmental space, but their integration depends on the spatial processing stages that are investigated. Moreover, it was successfully demonstrated that the use of desktop virtual environments seems to be appropriate to investigate the development of spatial cognition.     

运载火箭晃动分析中知识模型的构建及应用

为了改变传统方法所实现的运载火箭晃动分析计算程序结构固定、缺乏灵活性、不能根据不同的使用场景自发完成不同计算任务的问题，利用本体理论和方法，将领域知识解决实际问题的过程抽象为决策知识引导应用单元执行的过程模型。根据建立的模型，从晃动分析相关领域知识中剥离出决策节点和应用单元，再通过决策节点重构决策知识，最终实现决策知识引导应用单元完成晃动计算。最后利用本体OWL语言实现决策节点重构决策知识，并开发了基于本体的火箭晃动计算分析软件模块，实现了分析计算知识的公用性、可拓展性和配置灵活性，为快速、智能化的专业分析计算提供借鉴。     

Risk-taking during wayfinding is modulated by external stressors and personality traits

ABSTRACT

Two experiments examined cue reliance and risk-taking during desktop virtual wayfinding, and how they might be modulated by personality traits and external stressors. Participants navigated a series of virtual buildings and we manipulated the strength of probabilistic cues available to guide turn decisions. Navigators frequently discounted probabilistic cues and instead took risks, particularly when costs were low and potential benefits were high. Risk-taking was predicted by higher sense of direction and lower need for structure. Introducing a time stressor lowered risk-taking, with a higher relative reliance on probability-based information. This was most pronounced in females and those with a high need for structure. Results provide novel evidence that spatial cue reliance is modulated by individual differences and contextual constraints.     

Modeling visuospatial reasoning

I apply my proposed modification of Soar/Spatial/Visual System and Kosslyn’s (1983) computational operations on images to problems within a 2 × 2 taxonomy that classifies research according to whether the coding involves static or dynamic relations within an object or between objects (Newcombe & Shipley, 2015). I then repeat this analysis for problems that are included in mathematics and science curricula. Because many of these problems involve reasoning from diagrams Hegarty’s (2011) framework for reasoning from visual-spatial displays provides additional support for organizing this topic. Two more relevant frameworks specify reasoning at different levels of abstraction (Reed, 2016) and with different combinations of actions and objects (Reed, 2018). The article concludes with suggestions for future directions.     

Collaborative Navigation in an Unfamiliar Environment with People Having Different Spatial Aptitudes

This study addressed the issue of collaborative navigation by examining the types of information communicated in the processes of direction giving and receiving between people who guided each other simultaneously to a destination over the cell phone in a novel environment. When paired with a partner whose sense of direction differed greatly from their own, people found the collaboration difficult and took a longer time to verbally direct the partner to the destination. Landmarks that people used in giving navigational instructions differed depending on sense of direction. People with a good sense of direction adjusted route directions to their partners' wayfinding ability. Results from a detailed qualitative analysis of participants' verbal protocols and implications for personalized navigation tools are discussed.     

Electric propulsion plasma plume interaction with “Phobos-Soil” spacecraft structural components

Assessment was made by calculations for the possible consequences of the effect of plasma plume injected by the solar electric propulsion system (SEPS) on the structural components of “Phobos-Soil” spacecraft (SC). Propulsion system comprises three SPT-140 thrusters, two of which should secure the required total thrust impulse during 8000 hours of operation approximately. Variation of the solar panel (SP) properties as a result of their surface contamination with the products of erosion of thruster and SC structural components is the primary negative consequence of plasma plume effect on the SC. Calculation study for the processes of erosion, particle flow distribution, and contaminating coating formation on the SP surface was made for different SEPS arrangements. It is shown that power reduction for the landing module SP sections, which are subjected to the contaminating coating deposition to the most extent, will not exceed 5% of the nominal level.