Pharos: Improving navigation instructions on smartwatches by including global landmarks

Nina Wenig, Dirk Wenig, Steffen Ernst, Rainer Malaka, Brent Hecht, Johannes Schöning

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 19th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, MobileHCI 2017
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
ISBN (Electronic)9781450350754
ISBN (Print)978-1450350754
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 4 2017
Event19th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, MobileHCI 2017 - Vienna, Austria
Duration: Sep 4 2017Sep 7 2017

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 19th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, MobileHCI 2017

Other

Other19th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, MobileHCI 2017
Country/TerritoryAustria
CityVienna
Period9/4/179/7/17

Keywords

  • Computer vision
  • Global landmarks
  • Landmark-based navigation
  • Pedestrian navigation
  • Smartwatches

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Information Systems
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Software

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