Wayfinding Strategies

In collaboration with R5-[ArchWay] we conducted several studies on wayfinding in a complex, 3D indoor environment. Based on the subjects' familiarity with the environment, we could identify different strategies: the central point strategy of finding one's way by sticking as much as possible to well-known parts of the environment, the direction strategy of choosing routes that head towards and lead to the horizontal position of the destination as directly as possible, and the floor strategy of first finding one's way to the floor of the destination. The different strategies lead to differences in performance; the appropriateness of a given strategy seems to depend on the environmental setting.

Main Publications:

Hölscher, C., Meilinger, T., Vrachliotis, G., Brösamle, M., and Knauff, M. (to appear). Up the Down Staircase: Wayfinding Strategies in Multi-Level Buildings. Journal of Environmental Psychology.

Hölscher, C., Meilinger, T., Vrachliotis, G., Brösamle, M., and Knauff, M. (2005). Finding the Way Inside: Linking Architectural Design Analysis and Cognitive Processes. In C. Freksa, M. Knauff, B. Krieg-Brückner, B. Nebel, and T. Barkowsky (Eds.), Spatial Cognition IV - Reasoning, Action, Interaction. International Conference Spatial Cognition 2004, pp. 1-23. Springer, Berlin.

Hölscher, C., Vrachliotis, G., and Meilinger, T. (2005). The Floor Strategy: Wayfinding Cognition in a Multi-Level Building. In v. A. Nes (Eds.), Proceedings of 5th International Space Syntax Symposium. TU Delft, Netherlands. Short Paper