Navigation in large-scale natural environments is not new and has been dealt with some success across various cultures and species in the animal kingdom. Currently, interest in navigation and wayfinding has been revived by difficulties users usually experience when navigating through large-scale 3D computer virtual environments (CVEs). In this paper, the facilitation of wayfinding in such envir...

The use of 3D virtual worlds has spread rapidly in recent years. These worlds have various uses ranging from computer games to urban design simulation systems. However, the spread of 3D virtual worlds has been impeded due to the problem of users not being able to find their way in and around virtual worlds. Hence improving wayfinding has become a crucial area of research. As virtual worlds beco...

Three-dimensional (3-D) route-planning support offers a promising solution to overcome problems with wayfinding in complex indoor environments. An experiment was conducted to test the effect of 3-D route-planning support in a realistic setting, a large hospital building, during normal operation. Forty participants performed navigation tasks either with (n = 20) or without (n = 20) 3-D route-pla...

People navigating in unfamiliar environments rely on wayfinding directions, either given by people familiar with the place, or given by maps or wayfinding services. The essential role of landmarks in human route communication is well-known. However, mapping the human ability to select landmarks ad hoc for route directions to a computational model was never tried before. Wayfinding services mana...

Human path planning relies on several more aspects than only geometric distance between two locations. These additional aspects mostly relate to the complexity of the traveled path. Accordingly, in recent years several cognitively motivated path search algorithms have been developed that try to minimize wayfinding complexity. However, the calculated paths may result in large detours as geometri...

The blind and visually impaired people are facing a number of challenges in their daily life. One of the major challenges is finding their way both indoor and outdoor. For this reason, routing and navigation independently, especially in urban areas are important for the blind. Most of the blind undertake route finding and navigation with the help of a guide. In addition, other tools such as a c...

Humans navigating in unfamiliar environments rely on wayfinding directions, either given by people familiar with the area, or communicated through maps or wayfinding services. The essential role of landmarks in human route communication is well-known. However, mapping the human ability to select landmarks ad hoc for route directions to a computational model was never tried before. Wayfinding se...

Given our inherent mobility, wayfinding can be described as one of the earliest human activities. In a simple environment, the human mind is capable of generating a cognitive map or “the internal spatial representation of environmental information” (Golledge, 1999). Within a complex environment, an internal cognitive map alone may not allow the user to have a successful wayfinding experience an...

Healthcare facilities are often complex and overwhelming for visitors, and wayfinding in healthcare facilities can be challenging. As there is an increasing number of global citizens who travel to seek medical care in another country, it is critical to make wayfinding easy for visitors who are not familiar with the language in a foreign country. Among many wayfinding aids, symbols are helpful f...

Knowing where one is located within an environment is one of the most fundamental tasks humans have to master in their daily routines. Maps, as external representations of the environment offer intuitive ways to extend the capacities of the human cognitive systems. Operations such as planning a route can be performed on maps instead of in the environment. Question of how to design maps that sup...