Comparing Text and Graphics in Navigation Display Design

Abstract

Thirty-six pilots were tested in a flight simulator on their ability to decide which of two airports was farther from a storm front, based on the manner in which information was presented on a navigational display. The results support the superiority of graphical over textual information display of nearest airport information. Pilots were significantly faster using the map display than using either the text-only display or the enhancedtext display. In addition, in contrast to an earlier study (Williams, 1999), pilots performed better using a north-up map than when using a track-up map. Discussion of the results focuses on recommendations for moving-map displays and the display requirements for support of the nearest-airport function within a navigational display.