Not simply a circle: directional You-Are-Here symbol design improves the usability of indoor layout maps

ABSTRACT The indoor layout map contains information about the architectural interior space. Users often utilize the You-Are-Here (YAH) symbol on maps to firstly determine their current location and orientation to find the direction of a target location. Circle symbols often seen only indicate a user’s location, making it difficult to complete the orientation process. Based on alignment effect theory, we modified symbols by adding current orientation information. We conducted a target orientation experiment using eye-tracking technology to examine whether symbol modification positively affected users’ orientating performance in virtual subway station scenes on desktop. The results indicated that participants in the modified symbol group achieved a higher accuracy within a shorter time in orientation tasks. We also found that modified symbols significantly reduced users’ visual reliance on environmental information. Another experiment, in order to further investigate the role of YAH symbols in maps of different complexity, indicated that our modified symbol achieved obvious improvements regardless of map complexity. These findings revealed that the modified symbols indeed improved the convenience of orientation and the overall usability of indoor layout maps.