Can You Find Your Way? Comparing Wayfinding Behaviour Between Reality and Virtual Reality
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Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Eurographics Association
Abstract
Signage is an essential element in finding one's way and avoiding getting lost in open and indoor environments. Yet, designing an effective signage system for a complex structure remains a challenge, as some buildings may need to communicate a lot of information in a minimum amount of space. Virtual reality (VR) provides a new way of studying human wayfinding behaviour, offering a flexible and cost-effective platform for assessing the efficiency of signage, especially during the design phase of a building. However, it is not yet clear whether wayfinding behaviour and signage interpretation differ between reality and virtual reality. We conducted a wayfinding experiment using signage with 20 participants who performed a series of tasks in virtual and real conditions. Participants were video-recorded in both conditions. In addition, oral feedback and post-experiment questionnaires were collected as supplementary data. The aim of this study was to investigate the wayfinding behaviour of a user using signs in an unfamiliar real and virtual environment. The results of the experiment showed a similarity in behaviour between both environments; regardless of the order of passage and the environment, participants required less time to complete the task during the second run by reducing their mistakes and learning from their first run.
Description
CCS Concepts: Human-centered computing → Virtual reality; User centered design; Computing methodologies → Virtual reality
@inproceedings{10.2312:egve.20231322,
booktitle = {ICAT-EGVE 2023 - International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence and Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments},
editor = {Jean-Marie Normand and Maki Sugimoto and Veronica Sundstedt},
title = {{Can You Find Your Way? Comparing Wayfinding Behaviour Between Reality and Virtual Reality}},
author = {Goupil, Vincent and Arnaldi, Bruno and Argelaguet, Ferran and Michaud, Anne-Solène and Gouranton, Valérie},
year = {2023},
publisher = {The Eurographics Association},
ISSN = {1727-530X},
ISBN = {978-3-03868-218-9},
DOI = {10.2312/egve.20231322}
}