Who gets lost and why: A representative cross-sectional survey on sociodemographic and vestibular determinants of wayfinding strategies

Abstract

When we think of our family and friends, we probably know someone who is good at finding their way and someone else that easily gets lost. We still know little about the biological and environmental factors that influence our navigational ability. Here, we investigated the frequency and sociodemographic determinants of wayfinding and their association with vestibular function in a representative cross-sectional sample (N = 783) of the adult German-speaking population. Wayfinding was assessed using the Wayfinding Strategy Scale, a self-report scale that produces two scores for each participant representing to what degree they rely on route-based or orientation (map-based) strategies. We were interested in the following research questions: (1) the frequency and determinants of wayfinding strategies in a population-based representative sample, (2) the relationship between vestibular function and strategy choice and (3) how sociodemographic factors influence general wayfinding ability as measured using a combined score from both strategy scores. Our linear regression models showed that being male, having a higher education, higher age and lower regional urbanization increased orientation strategy scores. Vertigo/dizziness reduced the scores of both the orientation and the route strategies. Using a novel approach, we grouped participants by their combined strategy scores in a multinomial regression model, to see whether individuals prefer one strategy over the other. The majority of individuals reported using either both or no strategy, instead of preferring one strategy over the other. Young age and reduced vestibular function were indicative of using no strategy. In summary, wayfinding ability depends on both biological and environmental factors; all sociodemographic factors except income. Over a third of the population, predominantly under the age of 35, does not successfully use either strategy. This represents a change in our wayfinding skills, which may result from the technological advances in navigational aids over the last few decades.

Acceptance of a smartphone navigation application by hospital patients and visitors: the role of gender, age, and education

“…In this case, the formal educational level should be viewed as a proxy of general cognitive abilities (see Elias, M.F. et al 1997, or Le Carret, N. et al 2003, spatial abilities (Proust-Lima, C. et al 2008;Ulrich, S. et al 2019), and an intention to gain new (technical) skills. Arning, K. et al (2012) argue that smart navigation technology acceptance is affected by the level of individual technical self-efficacy (TSE), defined as the confidence in one's own ability to solve technical problems.…”

“…et al 2012). Less educated people show lower orientation scores (Ulrich, S. et al 2019) and are likely to follow a route strategy, while empirical evidence for the latter is missing. To sum up, we expect that the acceptance of smart navigation apps will differ among par-ticular hospital pavilions and departments, depending on the perceived difficulties of finding these places.…”

Navigational Needs and Preferences of Hospital Patients and Visitors: What Prospects for Smart Technologies?

“…This implies that their ability to make and use cognitive environment maps is limited. The results suggest that allocentric navigation strategies, in which cognitive maps are used, deteriorate in increasing age [16]. Correspondingly, Rodgers et al [19] argue that the elderly rely dominantly on the egocentric navigational strategy, while younger individuals use both strategies roughly equally.…”

“…Respondents were asked about their perception of the current hospital navigational system and preferences of various cues, focusing on their willingness to use a smart navigation application. We aim to contribute to the existing literature concerning wayfinding in hospitals by linking two different streams of research are linked: (i) theoretical studies focusing on explanation of age-, gender-, or education-based differences in wayfinding [8,[14][15][16][17][18][19], and (ii) applied research dealing with the navigational systems in hospitals from the technology and/or management point of view [4,20,21]. Our aim is to provide specific recommendations for the design of hospital navigation systems that will be based on theoretical understanding and empirical identification of hospital patients'/visitors' navigational needs.…”

Which Way Is ‘Yildiz Amfi̇’? Augmented Reality vs. Paper Map on Pedestrian Wayfinding

“…One of the enduring human activities is wayfinding, since most of the daily activities involve people moving between different, occasionally unknown, locations. Although wayfinding depends on external issues such as the effective delivery of maps and signs (Calori, 2007), it is also an ability depending on sociodemographic factors such as education, gender and age (Ulrich et al, 2019). The prevalent use of smart phones and the technological progress on Augmented Reality (AR) has much to offer in terms of easing the process of wayfinding.…”