Testing Two Tools for Multimodal Navigation

Abstract

The latest smartphones with GPS, electronic compasses, directional audio, touch screens, and so forth, hold a potential for location-based services that are easier to use and that let users focus on their activities and the environment around them. Rather than interpreting maps, users can search for information by pointing in a direction and database queries can be created from GPS location and compass data. Users can also get guidance to locations through point and sweep gestures, spatial sound, and simple graphics. This paper describes two studies testing two applications with multimodal user interfaces for navigation and information retrieval. The applications allow users to search for information and get navigation support using combinations of point and sweep gestures, nonspeech audio, graphics, and text. Tests show that users appreciated both applications for their ease of use and for allowing users to interact directly with the surrounding environment.

Navigating by audio-based probing and fuzzy routing

“…The field tests revealed that the arrow points toward distant targets quite reliably, but gets increasingly inaccurate the closer the user got to the target. The GPS error started to dominate when the distance decreased under 30 meters, but on the other hand, then users were already able to locate the target visually [3]. These experiments led us to rethink our navigational approach and to abandon turn-by-turn instructions.…”

“…is an improved version of our earlier navigation tool discussed also in [3]. In short, the purpose of this earlier application was to study the feasibility of GPS and compass, as well as the suitability of speech-free audio as a modality of conveying navigation information.…”

“…A test walk shown in Figure 4 [3] demonstrates this problem. The recorded GPS track differs noticeably from the actual route walked, especially around buildings with three stories or more, i.e.…”

“…When compared to the related work, our main contributions are in probing, fuzzy routing, sensor usage, and how information is presented with binaural audio and sound properties. The audio design and the field tests are discussed also in [3], [8]. We do not present the details of the audio design in this paper but describe in more detail the operation principle and implementation of the PING!…”

Multimodal 3D User Interfaces for Augmented Reality and Omni-Directional Video

“…In particular, pedestrian navigation assistants have to (1) provide robust guiding cues and (2) avoid distracting users by letting them to keep an eye on the road or socially interact with friends. Different studies in this particular application domain have investigated how to use auditory, tactile and visual cues to improve how pedestrians receive navigation assistance (Liljedahl et al, 2012;Pielot and Boll, 2010). Multimodal feedback offers many benefits for navigation assistance: eyes-free operation, language independence, faster decision-making, and reduced cognitive load (Jacob et al, 2011).…”