Iterative design of MOVE: A situationally appropriate vehicle navigation system

Drivers need assistance when navigating an unfamiliar route. In-vehicle navigation systems have improved in recent years due to the technology advances, but are sometimes problematic because of information overload while driving. To address the attentional demands of reading a map while driving, we have developed the MOVE (Maps Optimized for Vehicular Environments) in-car navigation display, which provides situationally appropriate navigation information to the driver through optimization of map information. In this paper, we describe the iterative design and evaluation process that shaped the MOVE system. We describe early map reading and navigation studies that led to early designs for our system. We present a study on visual search tasks that refined the renditions used for the system. Finally, we present a study on the effectiveness of several variations of a contextually optimized route map visualization with a desktop steering system. The result of this study shows that MOVE’s contextually optimized navigation information can reduce the driver’s perceptual load significantly. Our laboratory experiment shows that the total map display fixation time was decreased six-fold, and the number of glances to interpret the map display were decreased about threefold, when comparing the contextually optimized display to a static display.