Wearable Tactile Display of Landmarks and Direction for Pedestrian Navigation: A User Survey and Evaluation

This research investigates representation techniques for spatial and related information in the design of tactile displays for pedestrian navigation systems. The paper reports on a user survey that identified and categorized landmarks used in pedestrian navigation in the urban context. The results show commonalities of landmark use in urban spaces worldwide. The survey results were then used in an experimental study that compared two tactile techniques for landmark representation using one or two actuators. Techniques were compared on 4 measures: distinguishability, learnability, memorability, and user preferences. Results from the lab-based evaluation showed that users performed equally well using either technique to represent just landmarks alone. However, when landmark representations were presented together with directional signals, performance with the one-actuator technique was significantly reduced while performance with the two-actuator approach remained unchanged. The results of this ongoing research programme can be used to help guide design for presenting key landmark information on wearable tactile displays.