Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
- head to a random destination in the underground passage, at the risk of turning
back to go and explore the other direction if they were not going the right way.
Indeed in this case they have on average one chance in two of getting it wrong.
Figure 10.14.
Typical layout of a train station
These strategies are not optimal in either case as travelers have to carry out
unnecessary movements. Not only are these movements tiring, especially when
carrying luggage, but they are also
stressful
if the connection time is short. It would
therefore be useful to have an information system that indicates their destination
platform from the start, without them having to carry out unnecessary trips.
Admittedly, vocal messages about connections, broadcast on arrival of trains in the
station, are meant to accomplish this, but they are often not understood or even
heard by the travelers. On the screens of the underground passage,
in addition to the
usual information
(departing trains on the corresponding platform), we therefore
propose to display information relating to the trains of users who approach these
screens.
10.8.2.1.
General description
We have installed five screens (in reality laptops) in a corridor of our laboratory,
according to the configuration given in Figure 10.15. Each of these screens
corresponds to a platform, numbered from A to E. Users can go from one of the
extremities of the corridor (landmark 0 and 2), or a “median” position (landmark 1).
This median starting position is not found precisely in the middle of the corridor,
but it is justified by the configuration of the place.
