Improving Understandability of 3-Dimensional Maps for Pedestrian Navigation

• Published in: The Journal of The Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers Vol. 56; no. 11; pp. 1819 - 1824
• Main Authors: Maehara, Hideaki, Usui, Sumio, Kamata, Kazuo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: The Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers 2002
• ISSN: 1342-6907; 1881-6908
• DOI: 10.3169/itej.56.1819

This paper discusses navigation services utilizing 3-dimensional maps for pedestrians. We conduct two kinds of experiments.The first compares the understandability of 2- and 3-dimensional maps with different display sizes corresponding to PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) and mobile phones. Our results indicate that 3-dimensional maps are much easier to understand than conventional 2-dimensional maps and that understandability is affected by display size.The second one deals with improving understandability of 3-dimensional maps on small display screen and it is based on the “compensation method”, which we proposed in a previous report.The compensation method adjusts parameters, such as contrast and view angle, through statistical procedures.Our findings show that the understandability of 3-dimensional maps can be improved significantly, compared with a case of usual parameter values.