Stories as route descriptions

Abstract

While navigation instructions in terms of turn instructions and distances are suitable for guiding drivers on roads, a different context of use - like pedestrian navigation - requires extended routing data and algorithms as well as adapted presentation forms to be effective. In our work we study alternative forms of navigation instructions for pedestrians in city environments. In this paper we explore the usefulness of directions given in the form of a short story. To aid retention of navigation instructions and recognition of decision points along the route we have expanded a landmark-based navigation system to present navigation instructions as a sequence of story elements. In this paper we introduce the concept of stories as route descriptions, describe the current prototype implementation, and present preliminary evaluation results from user tests that will guide further development. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.