Usability evaluation of turn arrows for in-car route guidance and navigation system

• Grant number: 12/24859-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2013
• End date: June 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences
• Principal Investigator: Edmur Azevedo Pugliesi
• Grantee: Aruane Mello Pineda
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Presidente Prudente. Presidente Prudente , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Driving a vehicle in unfamiliar urban places is considered a complex and dynamic task from a human perception and cognition point of view. To reduce the complexity of the travel, the Route Guidance and Navigation Systems (RGNS) have been largely used by the drivers, and a number of advantages presented by these systems can be pointed out. However, from the technological advancements, it is possible to implement several kinds of representation for route following in dynamic maps, among them the scintillation effect applied in cartographic symbols. Previous research has indicated some advantages and disadvantages with the use of scintillation in cartographic symbols applied in RGNS, and also has suggested that future works should examine the scintillation effects in different perspectives. Thus, this work aims to evaluate a group of static and blinking turn arrows, in an RGNS prototype. The stages programmed to accomplish with this work are the following: literature review; elaboration of a cartographic symbols guidelines of the system; training of the experimenter (scholarship student) to perform the tests; selection of a group of drivers to participate in the tests; usability evaluation; data organization; and data analysis. The evaluation of the system will be carried out in a low-cost driving simulator, by using human factors methods. The analysis of the results may indicate the usability level presented by the turn arrow symbols having different scintillation frequencies and duration, in the RGNS context. From the use of dynamic and static turn arrows during the driving simulation, we intend to understand the impact of the use of these two representation types in the mental workload, navigational error, and subjective preference. (AU)