Information Technology Reference
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a destination, change map scale) and view/under-
stand displays (e.g. to decide which turn to make,
to examine options within a menu). In many cases,
these interactions will arise when the vehicle is
in motion. Consequently, to provide guidance
for designers, researchers have aimed to under-
stand how the user-interface design for a vehicle
navigation system impacts on both navigating
and primary driving performance. Specifically,
research has aimed to answer the following three
design-oriented questions:
system modality (voice and/or visual) on driving/
navigating performance. The general consensus
here is the primary modality for presentation of
navigation instructions should be auditory to re-
duce the conflict with the predominately visual
driving task. However, information should also
be presented visually, in particular, to support
driver's understanding of more spatially complex
manoeuvres which cannot be represented easily in
voice directions (Ross et al., 1995). Recently, Van
Erp (2005) investigated empirically the potential
for the use of passive touch as a novel modality
for presentation of navigation instructions (spe-
cifically, vibro-tactile direction and distance to
turn presented through the driver's seat). They
concluded that haptic navigation displays offer
various advantages over visual displays, for
example, they provide a 'private' display to the
driver appropriate for very simple manoeuvres.
Nevertheless, it must be noted that the authors did
not make comparisons with the prevailing visual
and auditory interfaces. Other research related to
information presentation has considered a wide
range of issues, such as the format of information
(map-based vs turn-by-turn based), the schedul-
ing of information (when to present instructions),
and the location of information (positioning of
displays). On these topics, the reader is directed
to Ross et al. (1995) and Srinivisan (1999).
What Information Should a
Navigation System Provide?
To support route following, there are a wide range
of different information types that a system could
present, either referring to something real in the
road environment (junction representations, street/
road signs, landmarks, etc.) or indirectly refer-
ring to or pointing at aspects of the environment
(distance to turn, directions, etc.). In this respect,
researchers have established through a range of
methodologies that the use of distinctive features
of the environment (landmarks) within naviga-
tion instructions (e.g. “turn right at the church”)
offer considerable advantages over the use of
distance to turn information (e.g. “turn right in
300 metres”)—Burnett (2000); Ross, May and
Grimsley (2004). Moreover, research has identi-
fied the fundamental characteristics of landmarks
which designers of vehicle navigation systems
and providers of underlying map databases must
consider in choosing appropriate landmarks for
presentation by a navigation system (Burnett,
Smith and May, 2001).
How Should Drivers Interact
with a Navigation System?
For drivers (or passengers) to interact with a ve-
hicle navigation system, there must be a means
by which they can enter data (e.g. postcode for an
address), select from continuous/discrete options
(e.g. voice volume levels, stored destinations),
request/repeat information (e.g. voice directions),
and move through the system (e.g. within and
between menu screens). There is understand-
ably a natural tendency for designers to utilise
the familiar desktop computing paradigms, thus
utilising specific hardware devices (e.g. joysticks,
How Should Information
be Presented?
Navigation and related information has to be
presented to the driver in some way, and there
has been considerable research on a range of
topics. One key concern has been the impact of
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