Route Aware Maps: Multigranular Wayfinding Assistance

In unfamiliar environments, people need assistance to find their way. One predominant form of such assistance is maps. In constructing these maps, there is a conflict between concentrating on the essential information for wayfinding, namely the route, and providing overview information of the environment. The former eases information extraction by reducing visual clutter, the latter allows for reorientation in the environment even if the route has been left. In this paper we present route aware maps, an approach that combines the best of both (map) worlds. We argue how route information can be embedded in its surrounding environment, i.e., the global spatial context, without introducing unnecessary visual clutter. We present a construction process that results in route aware maps and detail each step of this process. Route aware maps shall ease information extraction by focusing on the route as the crucial piece of information and at the same time impart the feeling of efficient and safe navigation by keeping the wayfinder in global context. Providing a global context in route following invokes spatial awareness with respect to the overall environment and, thus, decreases the (felt) risks of making wayfinding errors.