Interview

To further understand the user requirements and define the design goals,

semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interviews aim to assess how a user

plan and conduct their trip in an unfamiliar environment. A typical scenario can be a

traveller arriving by train in an unfamiliar city - as he or she exits the underground

railway station, it may not be easy for such a traveller to immediately know where he

or she is and which way to go. The orientation question of “where am I?” must be

addressed first before resolving all other geospatial problems such as how to reach a

desired destination from the current location.

Based on the objective of this thesis and the related works described in previous

 What kinds of geospatial information are required by the travelers when

they first arrive in an unfamiliar area?

 In which way do users use the mobile map to navigate?

 Do users find street photos and voice directions helpful?

 What information on the mobile maps and the mental maps of users are

important for navigation and wayfinding?

 Do users find it difficult to relate the mobile maps with the real world

surroundings?

 How often and when do users feel themselves lost orientation and what is

the reason for that?

 Do users find landmarks helpful?

 Do users have problems with the zooming and panning techniques in

mobile maps?

The objective of the interview is to obtain a more clear understanding about the

user needs for pedestrian navigation and wayfinding. The findings from these

interviews were later used in the design of the prototype.

3.4.1 Participants

As presented in the previously created user profile (see Table 3.3), the interview

participants should represent a particular group of geolocation app users who visit an

unfamiliar city. 10 participants are recruited to participate in this study. 5 of the

participants are female and 5 are male. Few of them are foreigners. The average age is

32.4, with a minimum of 20 and maximum of 50. All participants owned touch-screen

smartphones and had used a geolocation app like Google Maps before. However, they

may have different levels of experience and knowledge with mobile devices, digital

maps, cartography, and navigation and wayfinding techniques. Table 3.4 and Table 3.5

present the profiles of these participants and their experiences with different fields

related to this study.

Table 3.4 Profiles of the interview participants.

Table 3.5 Interview participants’ experiences in fields related to this study.

3.4.2 Findings

I discovered common user behaviors from the interviews. In general, the

majority of participants plan their trips using a computer, tablet, or guidebook at home

before they travel to an unfamiliar city, and the rest of the participants only do this if

the preparation time allows. Most of them use digital maps on the screen of a

computer or tablet, and some use the printed paper map on the guidebook. They use

the map to find POIs and the routes from the public transportation stations to their

hotels. In order to learn about all the best POIs to visit, they search on the web, find

information on travel websites like TripAdvisor or Lonely Planet, or ask others who

have already been to the city for recommendations. To prepare for the actual

navigation, they ask friends who have visited the city about important landmarks that

can help them to stay oriented. They also look for the street photos of the POIs for the

reason that it could help them to recognize the places more easily.

Upon their arrival to the unfamiliar city, some participants use paper maps to do

the navigation, some use the navigation apps on their mobile phones. Four of the

participants (P1, P4, P5, P9) find using the paper maps difficult, they sometimes still

get lost in the unfamiliar environment. Most participants find the mobile navigation

system more helpful than paper maps. They only use the paper maps when they have

no access to a mobile navigation system.

In the case of using a mobile navigation system, the participants use the mobile

phones to search for the desired destination on the go. They often use mobile devices

as a tool to figure out the next destination. For example, at restaurant, they search for

good coffee shops to go after the meal. If they are at the hotel, they commonly look

for the navigation guidance on a computer or tablet before heading out. The

destination often described as landmarks, places, or POIs. Once decided on a

destination, three of the participants start the turn-by-turn navigation immediately; the

other seven of the participants preview the navigation instructions and the route on

map before they start. Street images and landmarks are important at the decision

points along the calculated route, such as the final destination and the turning points

where the moving direction changes. If panoramic street images are provided, they

rotate the street images from different viewing angles to look for business logos and

obvious landmarks. They find the street images toward their point of view more

useful and meaningful than street images from other viewing angles.

The participants find the details available on the street map much less important;

they normally concentrate more on the highlighted route that represents the directions

for turn-by-turn navigation. They look for street names, landmarks, and the

intersections before the next turning point to make sure that they are aware of the turn

beforehand. This inspired me to remove unnecessary map details in the design of

TopoNav.

Sometimes the participants still get lost, even with the help of maps and mobile

navigation system. When this happens, if using a paper map, six of them try to find

their way by using the street name information or landmarks nearby to relocate

themselves on the map; if using a mobile navigation system, the system commonly

would recalculate the route to destination and show its user how to get back to the

correct path.