Salience of visual cues in 3D city maps An important activity in urban three-dimensional (3D) mobile navigation is browsing the buildings in the environment and matching them to those in the 3D city map. There are different factors affecting the recognition process such as changes in the appearances of buildings, weather, and illumination conditions. The current aim was to study the salience of different types of visual cues in the recognition of buildings in 3D maps in suboptimal conditions. A pilot laboratory experiment was conducted, in which test participants recognized buildings in a 3D city map using systematically prepared photographs as stimuli, and their cognitive processes were studied using the think aloud protocol. The results suggested that buildings in a 3D city map can be recognized based on a variety of different visual cues ranging from small details such as textual signs to the shape of the building and landmark features such as towers. The results also suggested that buildings are recognized relatively much based on their location and other buildings and objects in their surroundings.

Augmented reality (AR) systems enable new user experiences while the user is interacting with virtual objects in the physical space. The virtual objects have mostly been presented visually, overlaid on the physical world. In this paper, we present an explorative user study of a prototype system AHNE with the aim to understand the user experience and usage potential of non-visual audio-tactile augmented reality interactions. The qualitative results reveal that non-visual interaction was experienced confusing at first, but also fun, playful, and exciting. Even though audio feedback clearly dominates the spatial interaction experience, tactile feedback makes the virtual objects feel more concrete. The ideated and evaluated set of 23 usage scenarios includes both game-like and pragmatic application ideas for individual and social usage. The results can be used to inform the design of novel AR applications that utilise human senses beyond vision.

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Supporting end-users’ practical and emotional needs is an important goal in the design of novel smart services. We present a design research study with the experience-driven design approach to create concept ideas for smart city services. We present current challenges in the context of use and results of a two-phased user study of traveler experiences in the railway station area of the city of Tampere. Results show how experience-driven approach utilizing playful experience (PLEX) cards enables users to ideate experience-oriented concepts. As an outcome of the study, we describe one of the concepts selected for development, the smart community info wall concept. Our findings on the use of PLEX cards show that PLEX cards work with the amateur participants and support their idea generation. Furthermore, with the help of the PLEX cards, users were able to think on the subject more extensively and presented ideas on the experience-oriented categories.