Bridging the gap between theory and application: An evaluation of the display issues of map clutter, rotation and integration

Reviews of the human performance literature indicated a lack of display design and information management guidelines that are based on display evaluations carried out in the actual or simulated commercial airplane flight deck. Hence, existing design guidelines may not be sensitive enough to the actual flight deck operations context. The present study examined several display issues together that were investigated separately by previous laboratory research, and evaluated these issues in an operationally realistic (Boeing 757 airplane), high-fidelity flight simulation environment. The three display issues examined included: (1) amount of task-relevant information or display "clutter;" (2) navigation display frame of reference, i.e., north-up vs. track-up, as well as rotating vs. fixed maps; and (3) information location, i.e., functional and physical integration of information into a single display source vs. multiple displays. The specific display application chosen were approach navigation charts that were used in conjunction with the primary navigation display during terminal area operations. The four display concepts evaluated included the currently used paper approach chart, and three electronic prototype displays that were designed to assess the impact of the aforementioned display issues on airline pilots' approach and landing performance. An aggregate of performance data, pilots' subjective feedback, as well as prior research results were used to establish recommendations for electronic approach chart display design.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio