Pedestrian Navigation with Degraded GPS Signal: Investigating the Effects of Visualizing Position Uncertainty
Authors:Burigat S., Chittaro L.
Published in:Proceedings of MOBILE HCI 2011: 13th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, ACM Press, New York, August-September 2011, pp. 221-230.
Abstract:GPS-based pedestrian navigation can be difficult when GPS position readings are inaccurate or unavailable. In this paper, we report on a user study we carried out to investigate whether different visualizations of the uncertainty associated to user position can help users navigate outdoors when the GPS signal is degraded. In the study, we compared a basic visualization that displays only the last accurate position of the user during GPS signal degradation, and two visualizations that dynamically estimate the area where the user might be, displaying it respectively as a circle and as colored street segments. While we did not find any difference among the three visualizations in terms of the accuracy with which users assessed their position, we found that the “streets coloring” visualization required a significantly lower workload compared to the basic visualization and was perceived to be more beneficial by users.
