Enriching Spatial Knowledge through a Multiattribute Locational System

Research has demonstrated that current navigation systems, while useful as a wayfinding tool, do not support the acquisition of spatial knowledge of the environment. In contrast to portable navigation devices, participants in this study learned about the location of lesser known campus libraries through a desktop system, which presented yoked images, maps and verbal directions to the participants. Information included not only the location of the building that housed the library, but also internal directions within the building to the library itself. The results showed that confidence to find the library by memory was notably improved by use of the system. Finally, the role of images was examined by selectively removing images from a random subset of the libraries, which resulted in marked decrease in confidence