Taxonomy of Human Wayfinding Tasks: A Knowledge-Based Approach

Abstract

Abstract Although the term "Wayfinding" has been defined by several authors, it subsumes a whole set of tasks that involve different cognitive processes, drawing on different cognitive components. Research on wayfinding has been conducted with different paradigms using a variety of wayfinding tasks. This makes it difficult to compare the results and implications of many studies. A systematic classification is needed in order to determine and investigate the cognitive processes and structural components of how humans solve wayfinding problems. Current classifications of wayfinding distinguish tasks on a rather coarse level or do not take the navigator's knowledge, a key factor in wayfinding, into account. We present an extended taxonomy of wayfinding that distinguishes tasks by external constraints as well as by the level of spatial knowledge that is available to the navigator. The taxonomy will help to decrease ambiguity of wayfinding tasks and it will facilitate understanding of the differentiated demands a navigator faces when solving wayfinding problems. Keywords: taxonomywayfindingnavigation Notes 1Taxonomies provide a hierarchical structure of entities that allow the classification of instances of these entities. In the history of taxonomies in the sciences, the most prominent one may be the Systema Naturae by Carolus Linnaeus from the 18th century, defining the relationship among species. 2 CitationIshikawa & Montello (2006) have shown that learning of information on these three levels of knowledge need not follow a strict ascending order but can be obtained in parallel. 3For our purposes, the exact format of the cognitive map or survey knowledge remains underspecified and can be based on topological or metric relations. 4 CitationTenbrink & Winter (2009) have recently pointed out that in such combined tasks the granularity of spatial information potentially required from external sources (cf. unaided wayfinding) will vary systematically as well.