Learning of Visual Route Instructions for Indoor Wayfinding

Visitors of complex buildings might be presented with individual visual route instructions shown on ambient displays. Such route instructions can automatically be generated by a modelling software. It was investigated which route instruction format would foster human wayfinding most effectively in a naturalistic wayfinding scenario in a real building. Egocentric, view-based formats (animated virtual walk of the route, sequence of pictures of decision points) were compared to maps with route indication. In each of the three conditions, 16 participants were tested individually. Participants watched the route instruction passively and then walked the route through the real building. Critical wayfinding errors showed a clear advantage of the animated “virtual walk” instruction format. This advantage is explained by the accordance of the virtual walk with the real wayfinding experience. This includes the “analogous” transmission of turning information in the form of movements of the virtual camera.