The Effects of Landmark Uncertainty in VGI-based Maps: Approaches to Improve Wayfinding and Navigation Performance

该项目旨在促进我们对用户体验的理解，并在基于vgi的地图显示中处理寻路和导航任务中的位置和主题不确定性。我们将研究地标不确定性如何影响用户的寻路和行人导航性能，以及如何使用认知原则和地图设计来克服与VGI数据特征相关的预期偏差。在一系列实验研究的基础上，收集实证数据（包括眼动追踪数据），量化表征层面上由于里程碑不确定性而引入的偏差。此外，这些研究将探讨基于MacEachren（1992）的地标性签名设计方案对控制位置不确定性的有效性。可以假设，在与寻路和导航任务相关的地图使用环境中，当地标的视觉含义除了其位置外，其不确定性也被成功传达时，其视觉含义是最有效的。如果地图使用者认为不确定性是地图的固有特征，那么在处理不完整或不准确的地图时，他/她就能够将这些影响纳入其中。该项目将研究地图是否可以以一种暗示不确定性的方式来设计。因此，VGI数据中存在的不确定性将被传达给地图阅读器，从而可供地图阅读器使用。我们希望揭示，在寻路任务中采用这种策略的地图用户在应对主题不确定性和改进的导航性能方面表现出更高的灵活性。拟议项目的研究结果将有助于提高我们对VGI数据特征如何影响用户交互的理解。最终，这将有助于在未来的导航应用中增强基于vgi的地图设计。

The project aims at fostering our understanding of how the user experiences and copes with positional and thematic uncertainties in VGI-based map displays for wayfinding and navigation tasks. We will examine how landmark uncertainty affects wayfinding and pedestrian navigation performance of a user, and how cognitive principles and cartographic design can be used to overcome expected biases related to the characteristics of VGI data. Based on a series of experimental studies, empirical data (including eye-tracking data) will be collected for quantifying the bias introduced at the representational level due to landmark uncertainty. In addition, these studies will investigate the effectiveness of landmark signature design solutions based on MacEachren (1992) to control positional uncertainty. It can be assumed that in the context of map use related to wayfinding and navigation tasks, the visual implication of a landmark is most efficient when, besides its location, also its uncertainty is successfully conveyed. If the map user assumes that uncertainty is an inherent feature of a map then she/he is able to incorporate these implications when coping with incomplete or inaccurate maps. The project will examine whether maps can be designed in a way that suggests uncertainty to be represented implicitly. In consequence, the uncertainty present in the VGI data would be communicated to and thus made usable for the map reader. We expect to reveal that map users who adopt such a strategy for wayfinding tasks show higher flexibility in coping with thematic uncertainties and improved navigation performance. The findings of the proposed project will help improving our understanding of how characteristics of VGI data influence user interaction. Ultimately, this will contribute to enhancing VGI-based map design in future navigation applications.