Landmark-based navigation systems have proven benefits relative to traditional turn-by-turn systems that use street names and distances. However, one obstacle to the implementation of landmark-based navigation systems is the complex challenge of selecting salient local landmarks at each decision point for each user. In this paper, we present Pharos, a novel system that extends turn-by-turn navigation instructions using a single global landmark (e.g. the Eiffel Tower, the Burj Khalifa, municipal TV towers) rather than multiple, hard-to-select local landmarks. We first show that our approach is feasible in a large number of cities around the world through the use of computer vision to select global landmarks. We then present the results of a study demonstrating that by including global landmarks in navigation instructions, users navigate more confidently and build a more accurate mental map of the navigated area than using turn-by-turn instructions.
Landmark-based navigation instructions have been investigated in depth from the perspective of spatial cognition and cognitive psychology. Tom and Denis @cite_26 showed that for guiding pedestrians, route information referring to streets is less effective (regarding the number of stops, instruction checks and time) than route information referring to local landmarks. In another experiment by Tom and Denis @cite_42 , the participants processed landmark-based instructions faster than street-based instructions and also remembered the route better with landmark information than with street information. Additionally, @cite_51 showed that adding landmarks to basic pedestrian navigation instructions (turn information and street names) results in less errors and a higher user confidence. In contrast to our work, neither Tom and Denis @cite_26 @cite_42 nor @cite_51 relied only on global landmarks in the navigation instructions.
@cite_51 @cite_26 @cite_42
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The beneficial effects of using landmarks in vehicle navigation systems (improved user confidence and navigation performance) have been well-studied and proven. The study reported here aimed to investigate the effects of adding landmark information to basic pedestrian navigation instructions (i.e. those which included distance to turn and street name only). The study found that the results replicate that for vehicle navigation systems. User confidence was raised to a consistently high level as a result of landmark inclusion and errors were greatly reduced. The results also indicate the types of manoeuvre that should benefit most from the inclusion of landmarks. When describing routes in urban environments, speakers usually refer to both street names and visual landmarks. However, a navigational system can be designed which only refers to streets or, alternatively, only to landmarks. Does it make any difference which type of information users are provided with? The answer to this question is crucial for the design of navigational aids. We report two experiments. The first one showed that in a wayfinding task, route directions referring to streets were less effective than those referring to landmarks for guidance purposes. The second experiment showed that when people generate route directions, they tend to produce less street than landmark information. These studies provide a further illustration of the critical role of landmarks in route directions. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the processes involved when people use spatial descriptions intended to assist navigation. More specifically, we compared the effectiveness of route directions in an urban environment based on references either to landmarks or to street names. In the first experiment, the participants learned route directions that referred either to landmarks or to streets named after landmarks (e.g. a hospital vs. ‘Hospital Street’). Processing times were shorter for instructions based on landmarks than for those based on street names. When the participants subsequently drew the route described, their memory was better when they had processed landmark rather than street information. The same route directions were used in the second experiment, in which the participants' memories were tested in a recognition task. The results showed that when target words referred to landmarks, the participants were more accurate and took less time to respond than when the same words were used to refer to streets. This finding indicates that the results of the previous experiment cannot be attributed to differing costs of the retrieval processes. Overall, the results of these experiments confirm the special cognitive status of landmarks in the mental representation of routes. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.