Navigation Styles in Intro-urban Environment Using Map, Turn-by-turn Cue Sheet and Mobile GPS

Abstract

Pedestrian navigation services enable people to retrieve instructions to reach a specific location. The high efficiency of wayfinding aids has created a demand for their use by pedestrians in recent years. A key prerequisite in helping to provide an effective navigation service or to design a successful pedestrian navigation aid in the future is to understand the nature of the navigation task. This paper investigates the navigation styles of wayfinders with three forms of navigation aids (map, turn-by-turn instruction and mobile GPS device). Particularly, we investigate how navigators make decisions at decision points. We also put the wayfinding processes in a particular social setting to test how factors like gender, culture background and actual environment influence the decision making; how wayfinders handle the imprecise navigation. Everyone completes wayfinding tasks, uses (often different) strategies, and processes information through cognitive processing. Geographers may benefit from understanding what the most frequently referenced information is or what the primary information for wayfinders, as well as the process of information contained on navigation aids.