Authors Dariusz Gotlib Jakub Łobodecki
License CC-BY-4.0
Polish Cartographical Review
Vol. 54, 2022, pp. 108–122
DOI: 10.2478/pcr-2022-0008
Received: 28.08.2022
JAKUB ŁOBODECKI Accepted: 13.10.2022
Warsaw University of Technology
Faculty of Geodesy and Cartography
Warsaw, Poland
orcid.org/0000-0003-3040-8755; Jakub.Lobodecki@pw.edu.pl
DARIUSZ GOTLIB
Warsaw University of Technology
Faculty of Geodesy and Cartography
Warsaw, Poland
orcid.org/0000-0001-7532-4497; Dariusz.Gotlib@pw.edu.pl
Developing a simulator of a mobile indoor navigation application
as a tool for cartographic research
Abstract. Solutions designed for indoor navigation are extremely rare compared to outdoor navigation;
however, the potential for development is, therefore, very high. Several pilot projects exist in airports, universities,
hospitals, and shopping centres. The difficulties in development are currently mainly due to the continuing low
quality of indoor positioning and lack of widespread access to high-quality building models. A strong methodo-
logical basis for how the interior and exterior of buildings can be cartographically represented in navigation
applications has also not yet been developed. Therefore, an attempt was made to design a virtual environ-
ment dedicated to supporting the design of indoor navigation applications. Authors present the results of
a study aimed at creating a concept of a simulation environment accompanied by the assessment and prelimi-
nary validation of its technological feasibility in terms of the method and technology used – although it does
not yet constitute a target study. The result was a fully functional prototype of a virtual test environment, which
was successfully used in a pilot study on the effectiveness of different types of navigation guidance. The par-
ticipants’ behaviour within the desktop virtual environment was investigated and their opinions were collected
through a questionnaire. This research proved the technological feasibility of the proposed concept and
demonstrated the usefulness of the Unreal Engine game engine in building new tools to support the work of
cartographers. The created environment will be further developed and used in indoor mapping research.
Keywords: indoor cartography, indoor navigation, map design, Unreal Engine, virtual reality
1. Introduction for example, positioning information using an
already existing Wi-Fi network in the building,
The development of indoor navigation appli- Bluetooth beacons, or mobile phones’ inertial
cations has been slowed and limited by particu- sensors (Sakpere et al., 2017).
lar practical and technological difficulties which An excellent example of the utilisation of the
have prevented the direct transfer of solutions above technology is a US hospital, which, in
known from other types of navigation. The main 2015, became the first medical facility in the US
difficulty faced by the designers of indoor navi- to implement a navigation system in its building
gation systems is the lack of widely available (Health IT Outcomes, 2015). An example of
technology for obtaining precise location infor- a development in indoor mapping is the InMapz
mation within buildings. When a user is indoors, application, which is widely available and con-
the signal from the GNSS satellite network is stantly expanding the number of buildings it
limited or completely unavailable. In such situ- covers (InMapz, 2022); it allows static floor
ations, the only option is to use one of the other plans to be converted into digital twins through
technologies available today (Marciniak, 2018); an automated process.
© 2022 Authors. This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Developing a simulator of a mobile indoor navigation application as a tool... 109
In addition to location, another essential piece on streets and roads for cars, or even on pave-
of information used by navigation applications ments for pedestrians. Movement is much less
is the direction in which the person using the orderly and also less predictable than for cars
navigation software is “looking” at any given time. on roads; completely different factors determine
Most smartphones are equipped with a com- whether people stop or turn around; movement
pass, which usually provides this information. can also be vertical (e.g., using a lift). Moving
However, this is sometimes problematic due to around a building is subject to different restric-
uncalibrated sensors or magnetic field inter tions to those for cars on the road (e.g., opening
ference caused by, for example, a nearby lift, hours, staff-only sections). There are also sig
electrical appliances, or other metal objects. nificant differences in the environment: starting
Another vital element that creates a signifi- with the lighting, the way the building is sign-
cant difficulty in the implementation of indoor posted, and changes in furnishings and décor.
navigation is the need for digital building plans. Another aspect is the different ways in which
For most buildings which have architectural users interact with the navigation application.
and construction plans, the plans are usually In car navigation, the device used for naviga-
only available as hard copies. CAD drawings tion is mounted on a special holder within the
are available for newer buildings, but, usually, driver’s field of vision. In pedestrian naviga-
there is no standard to define how to record tion, the device is mostly held in the hand, and
information about the structure of rooms, corri- looking at the app’s screen requires lifting the
dors, or floors; although some standards do device and often involves stopping; otherwise,
exist, for example, the IFC (Industry Founda- there is a risk of tripping or bumping into another
tion Classes). It is therefore necessary, to digitise person. In the case of in-car navigation, audio
and adapt existing plans or create them anew. messages are only heard by the driver and
Documentation of this type is not widely avail- passengers concerned. In the case of indoor
able, and the free mapping of building interiors navigation, the inconsiderate use of voice an-
is limited for several reasons. The best situation nouncements would be annoying to those
is in the case of new buildings, where the latest around. On the other hand, the amount of noise
BIM (Building Information Modelling) metho in a shopping mall or airport may prevent the
dologies and technologies have been applied audible message from being heard. The use of
during construction. However, using this data direct experience which is designed for car na-
in a navigation application requires permits vigation applications is, therefore, of very limited
and carrying out several processes. Solutions use in pedestrian navigation.
combining BIM and GIS (geographic informa- The issues mentioned above are only a small
tion system) technologies are promising, none- number out of many examples which indicate
theless (Isikdag et al., 2013). the specificity of indoor navigation and the
The specificity of indoor navigation also ge- need for research. The development of state-
nerates a whole other set of challenges for -of-the-art technological solutions to support
cartographers and computer scientists. The the design of indoor navigation applications
representation of the building has to take into for high-quality cartographic information can
account three dimensions, at different levels of be a crucial element in the development of car-
generalisation (Gotlib et al., 2020). Over years tography (Chen & Clarke, 2020).
of cartographic development, the principles for
the generalisation and cartographic presenta-
tion of open space data have been developed.
2. The research environment concept
The cartographic modelling of buildings has and methodology
only been needed relatively recently, so the
process of developing and testing the rules and Due to the specificity of indoor navigation
principles for this area is still ongoing (Huang applications and the need for these applica-
et al., 2018). tions to be properly cartographically designed,
In the process of designing an indoor navi- a concept was proposed consisting of the pre-
gation application, it is crucial to understand paration of a research environment in the form
how people and vehicles move and behave, of a simulator using game technology. The
which is different in buildings to what is familiar process of conducting multifaceted research
110 Jakub Łobodecki, Dariusz Gotlib
(including on the perception of navigation in the design of buildings and physical signage
messages and ways in which buildings are in interiors.
cartographically presented) will consist of simu- The planned research environment could
lating the navigation process in a virtual world, also serve as an educational environment in
which allows for more efficient research and the future. There are well-known examples of
reduced costs compared to real-world tests (in an the use of virtual reality in teaching geography
actual building and not its digital twin). A SWOT (Šašinka et al., 2018). Building models in con-
analysis comparing the two approaches has junction with a building viewing system, would
already been carried out (Kinateder et al., 2014b). be able to function as educational material for
When navigating in a virtual building, it is pos- architects and interior designers, or as a training
sible to generate multivariate graphic, auditory, field for people with limited mobility.
and vibrational navigation cues along with The proposed concept would also be a si-
multi-scale representations of the building, and mulator-integrated way to collect information
identify areas causing wayfinding difficulties. about the effectiveness of different types of
The use of simulators does not eliminate testing navigational cues, and to collect feedback on
in a real-world environment but complements the feelings, perceptions, and preferences of
it, and, in some aspects, allows for testing which users participating in tests. The research could
is not possible in the real world, for example, be conducted through a diagnostic survey or
for safety reasons. Good examples of this are focused interviews.
the use of a driving simulator to test the impact In the first research stage described in the
of a car navigation display’s placement on master thesis by Łobodecki (2020), and in this
driver safety (Ishiko et al., 2014), and the social article, only a simplified test study was carried
impact tests on the choice of escape route from out on a selected group of users to test the
a burning tunnel carried out in virtual reality proposed solution from a methodological and
(Kinateder et al., 2014a). It is also worth noting technological point of view. The interaction with
research that examines the effect of how a driver the virtual reality environment in the pilot study
navigates at the level of spatial information was based on a desktop environment with
recall (Khan & Rahman, 2018). Thanks to the keyboard and mouse interaction, rather than
virtual testing environment, it is possible to head mounted VR googles. This is not yet
conduct multiple tests under identical conditions a target study, but a preliminary validation of the
(lighting, level of congestion in the building, lift method and technology used. For this reason,
waiting time, etc.). the following section refrains from presenting
An important factor that can significantly the detailed results collected in the research
impact this type of research is the level of im- questionnaire. Instead, only basic information
mersiveness of the simulation environment. is presented to show the specifics of this type
This is dependent on the graphics quality (Jelfs of survey. Conclusions from this stage were used
& Whitelock, 2000) and how realistic the ac- to refine the technology and the proposed
companying sound design of the simulation is method for conducting research in a virtual
(Çamcı & Hamilton, 2020). In addition, how the environment. The results of specific research
simulation is controlled – with a mouse and on, among other things, the perception of navi-
keyboard or with a professional simulator gation directions using the proposed solution
equipped with appropriate sensors (e.g., pedals, will be presented in another publication.
steering wheel and gearstick in the case of a car) For testing purposes, a survey was conducted
– also has a significant influence. Other issues to compare different types of navigational
related to the design of the navigation applica- guidance. Comparisons of this type have already
tion can also be tested. For example, the quality been carried out in the past, but in a different
of the positioning signal can be simulated, environment and using different methods. An
including various simulated configurations of outdoor environment comparison between
its components. Data analysis (data mining) visual and audio guidance systems is avail
techniques can also be used in the design able by Chittaro and Burigat (2005). In the case
process (Sattarian et al., 2019). Analysing and of indoor navigation, a survey of user preferences
understanding user movement will allow for on how navigation directions are communicated
better application design and can also be used was executed by De Cock et al. (2019). Also,
Developing a simulator of a mobile indoor navigation application as a tool... 111
the first studies on the use of virtual reality in make it easier for future researchers who are
indoor navigation analysis have been carried not programmers to continue the work. An
out (De Cock et al., 2022). additional advantage is that this engine allows
In the future, the prepared environment is the best visual effects to be achieved with the
expected to allow for a high quality, compre- least amount of effort, as found in comparative
hensive study of these issues as well. tests (Stylized Station, 2021).
The initial aim of this study was to develop The Unreal Engine is a complete set of tools
an environment for such testing rather than to for, among other things, creating games and
conduct the testing itself, which will be carried architectural visualisations. The engine is written
out in subsequent stages. in C++, and its developers have implemented
mechanisms that support cross-platform capa-
3. Selection of game engine technology bilities. Supported platforms include Microsoft
Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Nintendo
The intensive development of three-dimen- Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, HTC Vive,
sional visualisation technology is being driven Oculus Rift, and PlayStation VR, among others.
mainly by the gaming industry. According to the The first version of the engine was released in
State of Polish Video Games Industry (Kraków 1998, so it has been in development for more
Technology Park & The Polish Gamers Obser than 20 years. In March 2015, the engine was
vatory, 2020) report, the global electronic en- made available for free to all developers. For
tertainment market is growing rapidly. In 2020, commercial use, it is necessary to pay a royalty
the number of gamers reached 2.7 million, of five per cent of revenue after it exceeds one
which translates into industry revenues of million dollars.
US$ 175 billion. The prepared environment was tested in both
Because games, in addition to being an ad- an older version of the engine, 4.25, and ver-
vanced technology, are a form of creative art, sion 5.0, released in April 2022.
the diversity of individual titles shows how much
freedom electronic entertainment creators have. 4. Description of the developed research
At the same time, the game development pro- environment prototype
cess primarily uses existing elements. A col-
lection of such configurable elements forms The Main Building of the Warsaw University
software called a game engine. of Technology was selected as the area for
Currently, Unity and Unreal Engine are the virtual testing. The choice was determined by
two most popular game engines in the industry its complexity and the availability of an advanc
(Toftedahl, 2019). Even though Unreal Engine ed 3D model for this building, which allowed
has almost twice as many games released on for advanced testing. The three-dimensional
the Steam platform,1 Unity is almost ten times model of this building was created as a result
more popular then Unreal in Google searches of transformations carried out on source spa-
(Google Trends, 2022), which indicates that it tial data collected by the Department of Carto-
is the choice of individuals and hobbyists. Less graphy of the Warsaw University of Technology
popular engines, but still worth mentioning, are during various scientific and implementation-
CryEngine, Godot, and GameMaker. -type projects, including work related to the
After analysing the literature (Christopoulou creation of the Property Information System of
& Xinogalos, 2017; Ciekanowska et al., 2021), the Warsaw University of Technology (Gotlib
the decision was made to choose the Unreal & Gnat, 2018). The transformations were per-
Engine software, produced by Epic Games. formed as part of a paper (Janicki, 2020) in
This choice was dictated by several specific which the author used the Unity game engine.
features of this engine. One particular feature The source data were provided in FBX2 format,
of the Unreal Engine is the visual programming which resulted from the preparation of the data-
system (called Blueprint). Using this system to base according to the Indoor Data Model (IDM)
build a research environment prototype will
2
FBX – one of the main 3D data storage formats for
1
A platform which sells games: store.steampowered.com exchanging data between applications.
112 Jakub Łobodecki, Dariusz Gotlib
Fig. 1. The 3D model of the Warsaw University of Technology’s Main Building, displayed in CityEngine
software (Janicki, 2020)
developed by the Department of Cartography the DataSmith functionality, first presented in
of the Warsaw University of Technology. conjunction with CityEngine, in 2017.
The model, prepared as described above, The export parameters were chosen to make
was used in this research with the authors’ the entire building model visible as a single
permission. For this purpose, it was initially object in the game engine. The final size of the
exported from CityEngine (fig. 1) to a format model, including all the textures, was 97 MB.
designed for the Unreal Engine (.udatasmith The mechanics of moving around the virtual
and .udsmesh). This was possible thanks to building model using a first-person view were
Fig. 2. First-person view inside the virtual building
Developing a simulator of a mobile indoor navigation application as a tool... 113
implemented and assisted by the standard The following operating scenario was assumed:
computer game control of a virtual character, 1. On a desktop computer, the user launches
using a keyboard and mouse. the research application, after which, intro-
The user moved around the virtual building ductory information about the research and
using a first-person view (fig. 2). Moving was the rules for using the application is obtained.
done by using the keys for the letters WASD Additional statistical information, such as age
(as in video games) or by using the arrow keys and gender, is also collected at this point for
(which may be more convenient for those with research purposes.
out gaming experience). Looking around was 2. A 3D model of the facility’s interior is dis
done by moving the mouse. played, which the user can navigate freely using
In addition, elements were created to mimic a keyboard and mouse.
the various components of mobile navigation 3. The application delivers successive test
systems. Navigation clues were displayed on routes to be followed and then navigates the
a partially visible virtual mobile phone. It was user through the use of appropriate navigation
also possible to display a map of the building messages (in different versions and at differ
with the user’s current position marked on it. ent points of their presentation), as well as
Additionally, this map was oriented in the di- enabling the display of an on-demand naviga-
rection in which the virtual character was cur- tional support map in the form of a 2D visuali-
rently looking. sation.
Upon completion of each stage of the ex- 4. The application monitors the user’s beha-
periment, a set of statistical data was sent, viour and regularly uploads information to a data-
allowing a research analysis to be carried out. base.
The data collected included the time taken to 5. After the test runs, the application collects
complete a stage or the number of additional additional information from the user for research
prompts the participant needed to complete purposes, such as which type of navigational
a task. The final element of the system was directions they preferred.
that the participants were able to freely provide 6. The researcher analyses the collected data.
their own comments and observations about the
research process and the way it is navigated. 6. The pilot study
The environment described above created
a prototype of the research application which In the initial part of the survey, participants
was tested in this study. The term “research were introduced to the context of the survey
application” is understood here as an applica- and how it would be conducted.
tion that is used to conduct scientific research. The user was then given tasks to complete
The details and results of the tests carried out which involved reaching various destinations.
are described later in this paper. The user (test participant) took the different
routes several times using different navigation
5. Study design messages.
In the experiment, four different types of
As part of the testing environment, it was navigation messages were prepared, which
decided to test several types of navigation were limited to three functions:
messages. The following types of guidance – forward movement,
were designed and placed in the simulator: – movement to the left,
– a graphic direction arrow similar to traffic – movement to the right.
signs, in two versions: large size and small size; The first type of message was a graphic
– a graphic direction sign, in different colours; message resembling a road sign indicating
– an audio message; a “mandatory direction of movement” (fig. 3) in
– a text message. two size variants.
It was assumed that the messages would be The second graphical solution proposed
displayed by the test application (simulator) at used colour to distinguish left and right turns
different moments during the user’s approach (fig. 4). Furthermore, a texture indicating the
to the point at which the manoeuvre was to be corresponding direction was additionally super-
performed (e.g. a fork in the corridor, a staircase). imposed in order to make it easier to associate
114 Jakub Łobodecki, Dariusz Gotlib
Figures 7, 8, 9, and 10 show the appearance of
the prepared research application when in use.
The upper part of the virtual mobile phone
screen is displayed in the bottom left corner of
Fig. 3. Navigation message in the form of arrows the screen (fig. 8). Here, the various types of
similar to road signs navigation messages appear. In addition, the
time since the start of the current stage is dis
played to motivate the user to complete the
task more quickly.
When the SPACE bar is pressed, the rest of
the phone is made visible, which simulates the
Fig. 4. Colour-coded navigation message user looking at their smartphone during navi-
with direction indication gation (fig. 9). The navigation map of the building
is visible and oriented relative to the direction
in which the user is looking. The map shows
a particular colour with a direction, and also to the user’s current position and the route the
enable people with daltonism to recognise the participant should take. While the map is dis
direction. The choice of colours was inspired by played, it is impossible to move, and each use
how directions are marked in nautical sailing of the map “consumes” (simulates) the battery
(Czajewski, 1991). power of the virtual phone. This functionality
The third type of message was a text message was aimed at getting the participants to follow
displaying text with a simple command “Turn the route as quickly as possible and rely mainly
left”, “Turn right”, or “Continue straight ahead” on the navigation messages rather than looking
(in Polish: “Dalej prosto”) (fig. 5). around the virtual building.
When the user reaches the door marked
with a star (the destination – fig. 10), a summary
of the survey’s progress is displayed in the
form of a series of stars indicating the number
of successful tasks completed (fig. 11). It is
also possible to abort the survey before it has
been fully completed to give the user the
option of reducing the overall survey time. In
such a case, only fully completed stages are
considered for further analysis.
Fig. 5. Example of a text message In the prototype application, seven different
(Message text: “Continue straight ahead”) stages were implemented, requiring the navi-
gation of seven diverse routes using several
The fourth and final type of message was variants of the navigation directions (tab.1). In
a voice message, symbolised by the display of target studies, the choice of routes should be
a speaker icon in the message box (fig. 6). At the carefully considered. Their difficulty, repeatability,
same time, a voice instruction with the same and length are important. This is a complex issue
content as the text message was played. and will be the subject of further research.
At the end of the study, a final screen was
displayed thanking the user for participating
in the study and presenting further survey
questions concerning the following:
– the best type of navigation message as
perceived by the user,
– the need for indoor navigation solutions,
– general comments and observations after
participating in the survey.
In addition, participants could enter their
Fig. 6. Voice message indicator email address to receive a summary of the
(source: flaticon.com) survey results.
Developing a simulator of a mobile indoor navigation application as a tool... 115
Fig. 7. Screenshot of the developed application from the experiment’s starting point. A view of the 3D space
from a first-person perspective is shown, as well as the interface elements: a virtual phone displaying
navigational directions and text with supporting instructions (the text shown on this screen:
“Move around using the WASD or arrow keys. Look around by moving the mouse.”)
Fig. 8. Screenshot showing the appearance of the developed application
The developed prototype application displayed pant had to be in the area which triggered the
navigation messages when the player (partici- message (trigger box), for example, approaching
pant) fulfilled two conditions. First, the partici- a fork in the route. Second, the player had to
116 Jakub Łobodecki, Dariusz Gotlib
Fig. 9. The map tooltip displayed on user request (the text guidance on this screen is “Turn right”)
“look” in the right direction (using proper mouse In order to collect and save research data,
operation). The frequency and size of the trigger three communicating components were used:
areas varied between the different stages. 1. An add-on to Unreal Engine 4 called VaRest
In addition to information about the participant, allowed HTTP requests of the POST and GET
the application collected information about types to be sent quickly. The request was ac-
their behaviour, as shown in table 2. companied by a JSON language element con-
Fig. 10. Screenshot of a star indicating the destination of a stage. The Polish text reads:
“Your task is to follow the directions to reach the door marked with a star”
Developing a simulator of a mobile indoor navigation application as a tool... 117
Fig. 11. Screenshot displayed between each stage. On the application screen, the text in Polish reads,
top to bottom: “Good job!”, “Get all the stars”, “Next”, “Finish the experiment before the end”
Table 1. Description of the implemented stages and the navigation message variants
Navigation
Stage Description
message variant
Introductory stage geared towards familiarising participants with the controls Large arrows
1
and principles of the application.
Cues are displayed immediately before the manoeuvre is required Random
2 (before a turn, but not when the participant is already at it). A relatively small
number of navigation directions.
Guidance is displayed directly at a turn, with additional confirmation via Random
3
the message “Continue straight ahead” when heading in the correct direction.
A stage in which navigational directions are displayed along the entire route. Random
4 At any point along the way, while going in the right direction, the participant
sees messages confirming further directions.
A route analogous to Stage 4, but with a minimum number of navigation Random
5
directions; i.e. only before places requiring a manoeuvre.
A complicated and elaborate stage using only a few navigation directions, and Random
6 starting in a different place than the earlier stages. Due to the small number of
navigation directions, situations having ambiguous further directions are possible.
A special stage using extended text navigation directions. This stage requires Text navigation
7 the participant to stop, read a longer message, and then go to the next location directions based
based on the memorised information. on landmarks
taining a set of data stored in the key-value 3. A Google Sheets spreadsheet (Table 3),
form. This element was pre-populated with the whose task was to collect the data on the im-
data collected during the experiment. plementation of each stage in a structured way.
2. A cloud-based application based on the
Google Apps Script platform. The task of this 7. Preliminary results of the pilot study
application was to receive and process the raw
data sent by the VaRest add-on and then save Students and acquaintances of the study’s
it to a spreadsheet. authors, a total of 36 people, were invited to
118 Jakub Łobodecki, Dariusz Gotlib
Table 2. Summary of data collected by the research application on completion of each stage
Information collected Description
Type of guidance Types of randomly selected navigation directions.
Duration The duration of the experiment in seconds. Duration for each stage and
the total time of participation in the study.
Number of wrong turns This number indicates how many times the participant went in the wrong
direction for a given stage.
Number of map views This number indicates how many times the participant needed to use
the 2D map display for a given stage.
Time spent looking at the map The duration in seconds the participant spent analysing the 2D map
in search of the proper route.
Coordinates of the map display Coordinates in the local XYZ system indicate where the participant
displayed the 2D map within the building.
Table 3. Excerpt from the spreadsheet collecting the results of the experiment
Regular
Related Guid Was
Guid No of No of navia
to Total ance Coordinates in the
No Gender Age ance mis- map gation
reseach time contact of map views build
type takes views apps
field time ing
user
[4741.910645,
1 woman 0 – 18 no sign 55.82 25.64 0 0 3191.268799, yes yes
1412.161987] …
[4035.179688,
2 woman 40 – 60 no sign 109.22 73.12 1 2 1638.719971, yes yes
1602.021729]
[3767.577881,
3 man 19 – 25 no sign 29.68 2.51 0 5 2320.653564, yes yes
1496.961914] …
[3640.507324,
4 woman 19 – 25 no sign 95.52 14.73 2 1 2674.232666, no no
1412.161987] …
[4745.217773,
5 woman 19 – 25 yes sign 58.35 5.15 0 3 2962.134033, no yes
1432.161987] …
6 man 19 – 25 yes sign 35.16 0 0 0 [] yes no
7 woman 19 – 25 yes sign 40.17 0 0 0 [] no yes
[3570.364014,
8 man 19 – 25 yes sign 90.40 8.09 4 3 2741.678223, yes no
1432.201416] …
[4912.556152,
9 woman 25 – 40 yes sign 153.47 9.07 0 4 3242.214111, yes no
1432.161987] …
[4912.556152,
10 man 25 – 40 no sign 93.55 34.96 4 11 3242.214111, yes yes
1432.161987] …
Developing a simulator of a mobile indoor navigation application as a tool... 119
participate in the experiment. As in any survey, Table 4. Summary of the most common comments
information about the participants’ characteris- from the questionnaire at the end of the study
tics was collected first (gender, age, associa- Comment
tion with the field of surveying and mapping, Mouse and keyboard control, and lack
familiarity with the building in which the survey of experience with computer games, makes
was being conducted, regularity of use of navi- the survey very difficult.
gation applications, etc.); then participants Suggestion for introducing up or down stairs
were given several tasks which consisted of guidance messages.
navigating a virtual building and reaching a de- At some stages the guidance messages were
stination, during which the app monitored their displayed for too short a time.
behaviour. At the end of the experiment, the There was a clear indication of the predominance
participants were asked what they felt was the of graphic guidance messages over text and
best way to provide navigational information audio messages.
out of all those tested. Noting the advantage of voice guidance when
In the final phase of the pilot study, the parti- it was inconvenient to look at the phone, and also
cipants were given the opportunity to make the usefulness of this message type for the blind
their own comments and observations about people.
the study. Twenty out of the 36 participants
who reached this stage took this opportunity.
The most common comments are summarised parative tests of wayfinding tasks, in which the
in the table 4. virtual environment was directly comparable
The results given here are fragmentary and with the real environment, indicate that both
should only be regarded as an example of the environments can be comparable across all
possibilities of the created test environment. important aspects (Stachoň et al., 2022).
Therefore, the full results of the experimental Analysis of the questionnaires completed by
study of the users’ perceptions are intentionally the users showed that the main drawback of
not described in this article. Further research the developed test environment was the com-
requires the collection of an appropriately se- plexity of the controls, which may make it difficult
lected group of test participants, the refinement for people without gaming experience to parti-
of the application based on the conclusions of cipate in such a study. Improvements in this
the first stage of research, the methodological area could be achieved, among other ways,
preparation of the survey, the inclusion of addi- through virtual reality technology, for example,
tional navigation cue variants, etc. Experiments VR goggles and multi-directional treadmills,
of this type will be carried out in subsequent and additional training of individuals before the
stages of the research. start of a study. A lack of skills in the gaming
For additional familiarisation with the devel- environment may also affect the study’s outcome,
oped prototype research tool described here, it which should be considered when formulating
is possible to download the zipped application further study methodology.
files located at the following address: The prototype application to simulate the
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cm6aYJ6yhnr navigation process presented in this thesis is
V3DtnvxIRq5HKIiTnTkb6. not yet a complete solution. More reliable and
extended analyses will be possible with the
8. Conclusions and further work further development of the proposed research
methodology and the precise preparation of
The research and the technology has shown test routes and navigation messages. The
that it is possible to create an environment experiences gathered during the prototype’s
simulating an indoor navigation application in development, the observations of the partici-
a relatively simple way. The use of game tech- pants, and the feedback collected from them,
nology in combination with geospatial data as well as the review of related literature, allow
opens up new research opportunities in the us to outline the future direction of research
field of cartography, particularly in the field of on the mapping aspects of indoor navigation
studies on the user perception of maps and application design, in particular research on
other geo-information products. The first com- the perception of navigation messages. In the
120 Jakub Łobodecki, Dariusz Gotlib
context of the development of the proposed si- planned route. In addition, it is advisable to add
mulation environment, the possibility of changing the functionality of a lift ride, which is an integral
the scale of the displayed 2D map within the part of navigating large buildings.
simulator, the display of 3D maps, the use of In conclusion, it can be said that the conducted
different colours for navigation maps, different study of the prototype original test environ-
object signatures, etc., should be investigated. ment showed that, despite some limitations,
Furthermore, the presentation of an entire game technology could successfully be used
planned route on a map could significantly at the stage of designing and testing cartogra-
impact the level of orientation within the building phic aspects of navigation systems.
space when following subsequent directions. The developed prototype test environment
The surroundings of the building should also was built in such a way as to allow its further
be added, so navigation outside and inside the development until a fully comprehensive simu-
building can be integrated. lation test system for navigation products is
Another essential element of the simulator achieved. The described preliminary research
is the realism of the rendered 3D graphics. proved the feasibility of the task and allows for
Among other things, a check should be made the formulation of assumptions for subsequent
in subsequent tests as to whether the schematic
research stages.
model of the building shown in the simulator is
sufficient to maintain the tests’ reliability, and
Participation of authors. D. Gotlib: general
what effect using a photorealistic model would
conception of the research and testing envi-
have on the perception of the participants. In
ronment, supervision of the work, testing of the
addition, the model should be equipped with
system, editing of the article’s content. J. Ło-
spatial orientation aids analogous to those
found in the real world, such as directional bodecki: development of the system prototype,
signs, door numbers, and floor identifiers. system tests, conducting test studies, editing
In order to make the simulation more immer- the article’s content.
sive, it would be worth adding additional ele- Acknowledgements and additional infor
ments that can influence the users’ perception. mation. The article describes, in its main part,
Among other things, it may be essential to si- work carried out as part of a master’s thesis by
mulate the sounds of the surroundings as well Jakub Łobodecki, M.Sc. (2020), conducted at
as simulate other people in the building to the Department of Cartography of the Warsaw
study their impact on the user’s reactions and University of Technology, according to the con-
feelings. cept by, and under the supervision of Professor
The mechanics of moving from floor to floor Dariusz Gotlib. The work was realised using
also require special attention. It is necessary a building model and other data developed as
to provide a specific type of message for this part of various works carried out at the Depart-
type of manoeuvre and to exclude the risk of ment of Cartography of the Warsaw University
“falling” down the stairs, which in the current of Technology. The authors would like to thank,
version of the application could occur and, in particular, Miłosz Gnat, M.Sc. and Hubert
thus, prolong the time it takes to travel the Janicki, M.Sc.
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