Creating a framework for situated way-finding research

Abstract

Preliminary themes to scaffold an investigative framework supporting human navigation from a egocentric (viewer-centered) perspective are described. These emerge from prototyping a mobile information appliance that supports, and is ecologically compatible with, human vision-based navigation and acquirement of spatial knowledge during movement through the physical world. The device assists a person finding his/her way from an origin to a destination by providing route information between images of landmarks, presented as they would be seen when walking rather than from an abstract maptype view. The use of the device in a foreign, built environment of the scale of a small university campus is illustrated and related to its use as a community authored resource. Emerging themes, such as the proximity, alignment and spatial separation of "ready-to-hand" landmarks, are discussed. Suggestions for further exploration are proposed and related to intersubjective and crosscultural differences in communicating and using information for piloting navigation. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004.