Walking with and Without Walking: Perception of Distance in Large-Scale Urban Areas in Reality and in Virtual Reality

Abstract

The perception of distance when walking through an urban area depends on several factors. In addition to knowledge of the physical length of a route based on known parameters such as the walking speed and the time or number of steps, this paper also discusses external factors such as the visual appearance and details of the route and internal factors such as the physiological effort or emotional states during the walk. It is not clear which of the latter factors are stored in memory and are used to estimate a perceived distance. The hypothesis of distance estimation on the basis of perceived and remembered effort is held by several researchers. The reported experiments tried to clarify that question with research in actual reality and virtual reality. In doing so, we were able to separate the component of real walking from other sources that possibly affect distance estimation. In addition, this work demonstrates the power of experiments in VR compared with equivalent experiments in reality.

Comparative Study of Neighbourhood Walkability to Community Facilities between Two Precincts in Putrajaya

“…While, residents in low density with larger buildings, lots and more open space would tend to underestimate distances. Several studies have concluded that age and gender have differed impacts on distance perception (Lee, 1970;Nasar, 1985;Popp et al, 2004). Low income group have a tendency to overestimate walking time rather than people with higher income perhaps as a result of less education or mobility (Burnett, 1978;Lowrey, 1973).…”

Ecological validity of virtual reality simulations in workstation health and safety assessment

“…The effect is however present on non-stereoscopic screens (Makaremi and N'Kaoua (2021); Popp et al (2004)), stereoscopic screens (Lin and Woldegiorgis (2017); Woldegiorgis and Lin (2017)) CAVEs (Piryankova et al (2013);Hofmann et al (2001)) and HMDs (Bodenheimer et al (2007); Gamberini et al (2008); Geuss et al (2012); Hiramoto and Hamamoto (2018); Napieralski et al (2011)). A comparison of older and more recent HMDs indicates a reduction of that effect on newer devices (Kelly et al (2017)), possibly as a consequence of increased display resolution and visual information (Ryu et al (2005)).…”

Sobre Caminhar em Confinamento

“…He produces an individual virtual space. Knowledge of the walking speed and the number of steps taken, the appearance of the environment and details, the effort and emotional states involved contribute to the production of the sense of distance (Popp et al, 2004). The studies of Bhalla and Proffit (1999) indicate that the sensation of the slope of the terrain may also be subjective, varying according to the load and clothing carried by the hiker, and that the perception of distance is greater on hills than on flat terrain.…”