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Thesis » Selected Navigation Screens

Software

Silicon Beach Software's SuperCard™ 1.5 application was used to run a custom stimulus presentation program for the Macintosh IIci. This program allowed the experimenter to select and display navigation screens to the subject on the subject's AppleColor™ monitor for specific durations, and was used for both the single-task and dual-task phases of the study. The VETTE™ driving simulation from Spectrum Holobyte™ was used as the primary lane-tracking task on the IBM SX55. This driving simulation allowed the experimenter to have subjects "drive" at a pre-determined speed and over a specific route. The subject controlled the simulated vehicle's lane position in VETTE™ by using the MAXX™ yoke steering controller. The IBM XT ran a basic counter program which enabled the experimenter to log the task numbers as well as record the two different lane deviation classifications.

Stimuli

The navigation screen stimuli were created with SuperCard™ 1.5. Seven configurations were identified which varied with respect to 4 major dimensions: The amount of information displayed (full-route vs. turn-by-turn), the format in which that information was presented (spatial vs. verbal), the presentation format of lane information (separate lane icons vs. pictorially-integrated lane information), and the incorporation of landmarks (landmarks vs. no-landmarks). Examples of each map configuration can be seen in Figures 2 through 8 below.

Navigation screens were displayed in a blank white box measuring 211 pixels in height by 282 pixels in width. This white box was centered in a gray background on the 13" AppleColor™ display (hue and saturation = 0, brightness, red, green and blue = 34952), and was always present on the screen in order to eliminate any cues to the subject that a navigation stimulus was about to appear. The navigation screens were 210 pixels high by 281 pixels wide (3" high and 4" wide) such that a white, single pixel border surrounded each navigation screen when presented.

Figure 2
Pictorial turn-by-turn map with integrated lane information (TTI).

2a. Simple intersection and easy street name.

2b. Complex intersection and difficult street name.

Figure 3
Pictorial turn-by-turn map with separate lane icon (TTS).

3a. Simple intersection and easy street name.

3b. Complex intersection and difficult street name.

Figure 4
Verbal full-route map (RV).

4a. Low zoom-level and easy route complexity (one turn).

4b. High zoom-level and difficult route complexity (several turns).

Figure 5
Pictorial full-route map (RP).

5a. Low zoom-level and easy route complexity (one turn).

5b. High zoom-level and difficult route complexity (several turns).

Figure 6
Pictorial turn-by-turn map with landmarks.

6a. Integrated lane information (TTL).

6b. Separated lane icons (TTL).

Figure 7
Figure 7a. Verbal turn-by-turn map (TTV).

7a. Simple intersection geometry.

7b. Complex intersection geometry.

Figure 8
Verbal turn-by-turn map with landmarks (TTVL).

8a. Simple intersection geometry.

8b. Complex intersection geometry.