hi I'm Ruth nagasa from Monash
University in Australia and on behalf of
myself and my co-authors Matthew Butler
Leona Holloway kagatagonku and Kim
Marriott I'm presenting our paper on 3D
building plans supporting navigation by
people who are blind or have low vision
in multi-story buildings
I'd like to begin with an acknowledge
from our country
Monash University recognizes that its
Australian campuses are located on
unseater lands of the people of the
colon Nations and pays its respects to
the elders past and present
independent travel and navigation in new
environments in particular multi-level
buildings is a major challenge for
people who are blind or have low vision
orientation and Mobility training or o m
is commonly used to prepare for travel
in new environments
tactile maps are an important part of
this training they serve as an
introduction to the layout of an
environment and help build a cognitive
map prior to visiting
tactile map presentations are
multi-story buildings generally present
a tactile floor plan for each story as
Illustrated on this slide
this requires the reader to mentally
merge the information on each graphic
to understand the spatial relationships
between each level
although tactile maps are essential to O
M training such maps of multi-level
environments have received little
attention
more recently 3D printer maps have been
suggested as an alternative to
traditional raised mind maps
as shown on the previous slide they
offer an advantage over race line
Graphics as they allow the direct
representation of 3D objects including
representative icons and are effective
at conveying composition and spatial
information
in this paper we address the overarching
research question can 3D models of
multi-story buildings help people who
are blind or have low vision build
spatial understanding of such
environments and construct an effective
multi-level cognitive map
previous work has highlighted end user
interests in maps of shopping center
areas for this reason we chose to 3D
print floor plans of three fabricated
local shopping centers
through co-design with the blind
colleague we conducted a control study
to evaluate the three designs
our first design was a flat model in
which each floor is was presented
separately and placed on a horizontal
surface in front of the user
the second was a sliding model in which
each floor could be slid to the side
and the third was a rotating model in
which each of the floors were able to be
rotated on a vertical rod
we used a within participant design with
each participant using each of the
conditions flat rotating and sliding
with a different floor plan for each
the study was designed to address the
following interlinked research questions
first
with 3D models of multi-level built
environments be valuable with no M
training
second what kind of cognitive map do the
models in gender and is this affected by
modal design
and last how appealing and effective for
spatial understanding are the models and
how is this affected by model design
so the study consisted of seven parts
and two breaks we recruited nine adults
who are blind or have low vision to
participate in the study
and the study procedure began with a
questionnaire to evaluate participants
confidence in visiting unfamiliar
buildings and their perception of the
importance and difficulty of building a
mental model
next we conducted a practice session to
familiarize participants with the model
and procedure
participants were then given the
opportunity to explore the model at
their own pace
once they were comfortable WE Post
recall questions to assess the accuracy
of their mental model
this was followed by spatial
understanding tasks such as planning a
route that relied on cross-4 spatial
understanding
afterwards we evaluated the usability
and engagement of each design
finally we assessed user preference
perceived usefulness and collected
design feedback
so on to our findings only one
participant self-reported a very high
confidence in visiting new buildings
While others either had a low or neutral
confidence
eight of the nine participants agreed or
strongly agreed that it was important to
them to have a mental model of the
layout of an unfamiliar building before
visiting
about half of the participants agreed
they found it more difficult to build a
mental model of the layout of a
multi-story building than that of a
single story
after seeing each model eight of the
nine participants strongly agreed or
agreed that pre-genie access to models
such as these will make them feel more
comfortable to visit a shopping center
all participants agreed that there was a
use for such models
this included buildings such as airports
Office Buildings and libraries
so onto the mental model
firstly for all participants vertical
connectors served as landmarks and
indicated points across floor connection
second participants ratings suggested it
was easier to understand cross-4
relationships with the overlapped
overlap designs
third there was some indication that the
different presentations and gendered
different cognitive Maps
participants were more likely to develop
a cognitive map of the building as a
whole rather than discrete floors with
the overlap presentations
while we expect to see an increased
accuracy in recall tasks for the overlap
presentations
there was little difference between the
presentation conditions
this suggests that despite any
differences in the cognitive map
engendered by the different presentation
methods functionally they encode
equivalent information
so next touch reading strategies
interestingly six of the nine
participants chose to overlap the flaws
or the flat presentation during
exploration and spatial understanding
tasks
with the overlap designs however
participants frequently realigned the
floors after having moved them for
individual exploration
and use their hands to follow the
escalators and lifts in order to
establish the connection between floors
in part 5 the procedure participants
would use the model to answer two route
planning tasks and one corresponding
Point task
all participants were able to complete
the replanting tasks on the first
attempt
furthermore the perceived difficulty of
completing these tasks was similar
across all three presentations with each
receiving an average rating of easy in
the single ease question scores
the average system usability score for
all three was above average on the
border of good and excellent
user engagement scores were high for all
three presentation methods
nonetheless observation and participant
comments suggested that the sliding and
rotating models led to Greater levels of
enjoyment
the idea of fun was also indicated by
five participants with a clear
preference for the overlapping models
all nine of the participants listed an
overlapping presentation as their most
preferred
ultimately it appeared one key aspect of
both overlapping presentations was the
ability to bring flaws of focus in and
out as needed
lastly it was clear that the design of
the vertical connectors being the
escalators on lifts were effective at
conveying crossfall connections
in conclusion our study provides a
rigorous evaluation of cognitive mapping
and cross-force spatial understanding
using multi-level 3D maps
all three designs were found to be
useful usable engaging and effective in
supporting cross floor spatial knowledge
our novel overlap designs demonstrated
clear advantages over more traditional
flat floor plans
the participants showed a strong
preference for the overlap presentations
which were more effective in supporting
cross-4 spatial knowledge
we believe that the availability of such
Maps will enable people who are blind or
have low vision to navigate complex
environments with more confidence and
Independence
our exploration of the design space of
3D building plans provides a solid
foundation for future development and
research in this area
and we hope will encourage the provision
in O M training and availability in
public spaces
thank you for your attention