Darken, R.P., (1996) Wayfinding in Large-Scale Virtual Worlds. The George
Washington University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science; Doctoral Dissertation.
Wayfinding in Large-Scale Virtual Worlds
Rudolph P. Darken
+1-202-767-2236
darken@enews.nrl.navy.mil
B.S. August 1990, The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
M.S. May 1993, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
A Dissertation submitted to
The Faculty of
The School of Engineering and Applied Science
of The George Washington University in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Science
January 31, 1996
Dissertation directed by
Dr. John L. Sibert
Associate Professor of Engineering and Applied Science
The George Washington University
Copyright by Rudolph P. Darken 1995
All Rights Reserved
Examining Committee
Dr. John L. Sibert (Advocate)
Dr. James K. Hahn
Dr. C. Dianne Martin
Dr. John Allen
Dr. Terry Allard
ABSTRACT
As important as navigation is to human performance in virtual worlds, it
is an often overlooked problem in the design process. This dissertation
reports an experiment intended to show that real-world wayfinding and environmental
design principles are effective in designing virtual worlds which support
skilled wayfinding behavior. The design principles are adapted from both
the cognitive psychology literature and urban and architectural design methodologies.
There are two categories of design principles; those that guide the organizational
structure of the environment, and those that guide the use and presentation
of maps.
The study measures subject performance on a complex searching task in a
number of virtual worlds with differing environmental cues. The environments
are extremely large and consist of open sea, land, and ships which are used
as targets for search tasks. The worlds are augmented with either a radial
grid, a map, both, or neither. For each trial, the subject's viewpoint position
and orientation was sampled approximately once per second. A verbal protocol
with accompanying video was used to elicit information about the search
strategies employed. A map drawing exercise followed each trial in order
to gain insight to the subject's spatial knowledge (i.e. cognitive map)
of the environment.
The results show that subjects in the treatment without any additional cues
were often disoriented and had extreme difficulty completing the task. The
grid was shown to provide superior directional information but both treatments
using the map were superior overall due to the geocentric perspective provided.
Behaviors associated with each treatment indicate that the cues had a strong
effect on both search performance and search strategy. The results suggest
that users of large-scale virtual worlds require structure in order to effectively
navigate. Augmentations such as direction indicators, maps, and path restriction
can all greatly improve both wayfinding performance and overall user satisfaction.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
Motivation
Objective
Approach
Definition of Terms
Chapter 2: MIGRATORY BEHAVIOR
Perceptual Systems
Avian Migration
Other Animal Migratory Behaviors
Chapter 3: SPATIAL KNOWLEDGE
Spatial Ability
Spatial Knowledge
Cognitive Map Theory
Navigating in Hypermedia
Real World Wayfinding
Summary
Chapter 4: ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
Elements of a Wayfinding Task
Elements of an Environmental Design
Environmental Design Principles
Environmental Design Methodology
Summary
Chapter 5: APPROACH
Wayfinding Principles
Wayfinding Tasks
Spatial Characteristics
Chapter 6: METHOD
Design
Stimuli and Apparatus
Procedure
Chapter 7: RESULTS
Total Time
Average Naive Search Time
Primed Search Time
Total Distance Travelled
Percent of Environment Viewed
Average Velocity
Map Distance Error
Map Direction Error
Land Map Error
Total Map Error
Cognitive Factors Examinations
Power Analysis
Chapter 8: GOMS ANALYSIS
The Control Treatment
The Grid Treatment
The Map Treatment
The Map/Grid Treatment
Chapter 9: DISCUSSION
Factor to Factor Associations
Cognitive Map Orientation
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda
Chapter 10: CONCLUSIONS
Contributions
Future Work
REFERENCES
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX C
APPENDIX D
APPENDIX E
APPENDIX F
Download a compressed PostScript file
of Chapters 1-5.
(3.6mb compressed; 15.6mb uncompressed)
Download a compressed PostScript file of
Chapters 6-10.
(2.2mb compressed; 15.9mb uncompressed)
This archive does not contain the appendices.
Last Change: March 20, 1996
darken@enews.nrl.navy.mil