Exploring User Experience of Wayfinding in a Large and Complex Hospital

Wayfinding is a very complicated perceptual and cognitive process, especially in large and complicated environments such as hospitals and big shopping centers. Many studies show inhabitants of large environments can become lost very easily if they are unfamiliar with the environment. Although they m...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kim, M., Han, S., Wang, Xiangyu
Other Authors: Yu-Cheng Lin
Format: Conference Paper
Published: National Taiwan University Press, Taiwan 2012
Online Access:http://convr2012.com/download/CONVR2012-Proceedings.pdf
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/30756
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author Kim, M.
Han, S.
Wang, Xiangyu
author2 Yu-Cheng Lin
author_facet Yu-Cheng Lin
Kim, M.
Han, S.
Wang, Xiangyu
author_sort Kim, M.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Wayfinding is a very complicated perceptual and cognitive process, especially in large and complicated environments such as hospitals and big shopping centers. Many studies show inhabitants of large environments can become lost very easily if they are unfamiliar with the environment. Although they may eventually be able to find a target location, it is very time-consuming to consult a map, understand the signs, and ask people for directions. This research identified factors that influence wayfinding and developed a customized questionnaire with a focus on user experience of wayfinding: generating an environmental image of the lobby, identifying information factors, understanding environmental factors, and linking environmental factors with information factors. An explorative study was conducted to investigate user experience of wayfinding in a large hospital, where the application of the questionnaire was validated in a real-life situation. The results show that participants experienced difficulties in generating a clear image of the lobby, identifying wayfinding aids, and understanding some of the information provided by the wayfinding aids. Further, there was no portable and continuous wayfinding service, which caused problems in recalling the information learned from the wayfinding aids, especially when attempting to return to the lobby. The potential of mobile AR for wayfinding aids is presented as an implication from the results of the explorative study, and the technological framework of the mobile AR wayfinding aid and its implementation in hospitals is proposed for future study.
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format Conference Paper
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2012
publisher National Taiwan University Press, Taiwan
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-307562023-02-07T08:01:19Z Exploring User Experience of Wayfinding in a Large and Complex Hospital Kim, M. Han, S. Wang, Xiangyu Yu-Cheng Lin Shih-Chung Jessy Kang Wayfinding is a very complicated perceptual and cognitive process, especially in large and complicated environments such as hospitals and big shopping centers. Many studies show inhabitants of large environments can become lost very easily if they are unfamiliar with the environment. Although they may eventually be able to find a target location, it is very time-consuming to consult a map, understand the signs, and ask people for directions. This research identified factors that influence wayfinding and developed a customized questionnaire with a focus on user experience of wayfinding: generating an environmental image of the lobby, identifying information factors, understanding environmental factors, and linking environmental factors with information factors. An explorative study was conducted to investigate user experience of wayfinding in a large hospital, where the application of the questionnaire was validated in a real-life situation. The results show that participants experienced difficulties in generating a clear image of the lobby, identifying wayfinding aids, and understanding some of the information provided by the wayfinding aids. Further, there was no portable and continuous wayfinding service, which caused problems in recalling the information learned from the wayfinding aids, especially when attempting to return to the lobby. The potential of mobile AR for wayfinding aids is presented as an implication from the results of the explorative study, and the technological framework of the mobile AR wayfinding aid and its implementation in hospitals is proposed for future study. 2012 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/30756 http://convr2012.com/download/CONVR2012-Proceedings.pdf National Taiwan University Press, Taiwan restricted
spellingShingle Kim, M.
Han, S.
Wang, Xiangyu
Exploring User Experience of Wayfinding in a Large and Complex Hospital
title Exploring User Experience of Wayfinding in a Large and Complex Hospital
title_full Exploring User Experience of Wayfinding in a Large and Complex Hospital
title_fullStr Exploring User Experience of Wayfinding in a Large and Complex Hospital
title_full_unstemmed Exploring User Experience of Wayfinding in a Large and Complex Hospital
title_short Exploring User Experience of Wayfinding in a Large and Complex Hospital
title_sort exploring user experience of wayfinding in a large and complex hospital
url http://convr2012.com/download/CONVR2012-Proceedings.pdf
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/30756