Evaluation of non-photorealistic 3D urban models for mobile device navigation

Abstract

This research presents a user evaluation study examining the effect different rendering styles of 3D virtual city models, as intended for navigational purposes, could potentially have on users with emphasis on non-photorealistically rendered (NPR) stylizations. The purpose of this experiment is to establish whether, particularly for the application area mentioned above, non-photorealistic, expressive rendering could provide alternative, more effective visual styles than the photorealistic representations of urban areas usually opted for by developers today. 50 participants were exposed to a predominably questionnaire-based study assessing various parameters by observation of the models on a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC). The results of this research could potentially have significant implications on how future pedestrian navigational software should be visualized in the future. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.