Bahm, Cristina Robles
(2016)
A Comprehensive Study of Internal Representations of Floor to Floor Transitions Points in a Large Complex Indoor Environment.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Wayfinding in complex indoor environments can be a stressful and disorienting activity. Many factors contribute to this difficulty, one reason being the number of floors paired with many different and often unpredictable ways to get from one floor to another. This dissertation focuses on providing a comprehensive analysis of how the human cognitive system represents the spatial information in floor to floor transition points. In particular, this project will focus on the internal representations formed by people familiar with a particular complex environment. In order to accomplish this, a user study was conducted at the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History that drew participants from the Visitor Services Department. Participants were asked to give wayfinding descriptions to and from several landmarks in the museums with the majority of the routes spanning multiple floors. Both verbal descriptions and sketch map descriptions were studied. It was found that floor to floor transition points were often represented as landmarks with two landmarks in particular being represented often as both functional as well as reorientation landmarks. This finding continues the discussion on global landmarks and their representation and salience in large complex indoor environments.
Share
| Citation/Export: |
|
| Social Networking: |
|
Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
| Creators | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Bahm, Cristina Robles | cmr93@pitt.edu | CMR93 | |
|
| ETD Committee: |
|
| Date: |
2 June 2016 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
19 April 2016 |
| Approval Date: |
2 June 2016 |
| Submission Date: |
13 May 2016 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
139 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Information Sciences > Information Science |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
wayfinding, spatial cognition |
| Date Deposited: |
14 Jul 2016 18:31 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Jul 2016 05:15 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/28617 |
Metrics
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[img]](http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png)
![[feed]](/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}