Inner Navigation
Xander Roozen / Alta Vision / Lisbon / 2002
why we get lost and how we find our way
UX Book discussion about Eric Jonsson’s Inner Navigation
START
START > What & Why
• Disorientation causes stress• Urgence• Business opportunities
START > outline LX/2002
Topics
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• Inner Navigation• Navigation on the Desktop
Inner Navigation
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• The Cologne turnaround• Spatial system• Cognitive maps• Parking lots• The Expedition• The San Francisco-effect
Inner Navigation > The Cologne turnaround
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Situation: Cologne, Germanycoming from Ostende, Belgium
Traveling during the night
Result:
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Situation: Jonsson arrives at night, after he was sleeping he thinks he arrives like this:
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Why this example?
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• People are normally shy in telling these kind of
stories.
• This experience points out that humans must have
a "direction sense" that we are not aware of.
• It also points out that we have a kind of inner
compass (that is influenced by for example
fatigue, age, alcohol)
Spatial system
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When we first explore an area, we make a cognitive
map of it.
A map that guides us on later visits. This takes place
automatically, we are not truly aware of what is
going on.
Imagine the following scenario
>>>
Scenario
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We have to design a workable spatial system
for human beings.
The information has to be very simple
It also has to be very fast
Scenario
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If our shelter were hidden from our view, we
had to be able to ´see´ exactly where it was:
Either the hill has to be
transparent for our mind’s eye, or
We had to be able to mentally lift
ourselves high enough to see the
shelter behind the hill
But there is more...
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We have to recognize it without delay and fail;
That rules out the top vertical view.
Today it’s hard to imagine that a map can look
any other way…
Situation:
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Situation:
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The correct direction to properly
oriented objects seen from the side
But...direction is from here to there
If the here is
unknown, the
direction cannot
be know!
Direction Monitoring System (Inner compass)
Spatial system
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We know where we want to go, and how the shelter looks.
Now we need to know where we are.
(Lux: EXPO or CCB)
Dead Reckoning System
(updates location)
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Direction FrameInner compass
Dead Reckoning SystemUpdate location
Map???
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Imagine that you are on a
city street that you know
very well.
Then you obviously know
where you are. But how
do you know that?
Cognitive maps
Cognitive maps
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You know where you are because it is all in
the map in your head, the cognitive map.
But looking at this map is not easy. Part of the
difficulty is the label map
Better would be to call it:
Awareness of our familiar environment
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You recognize the
landmarks around you.
But…
On your cognitive map you
can also see around the
corner.
Cognitive maps
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Around the corner:
Awareness of our
familiar
environment
Cognitive maps
Where does it come
from? >>>
Cognitive maps
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We don´t tell ourselves, this is a new place, I
have to make a good mental map to use
when I come back in the future.
Our natural curiosity…
When are we confused??? 3 examples >>>
Example 1 > Flight update
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Example 1 > Flight update
N
Example 1 > Flight update
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Example 1 > Flight update
North on the bottom of the map
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Example 2 > Map Costa Azul
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Example 3 > EXPO 98
North must be towards the top of the map. Always.
Always?
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We rely on outstanding features like the ocean or mountains.
EXPO has the tower and the river.
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Parking lots
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Living in an urban environment is easy
(if you know how to read…)
There is one situation where we need our
spatial system:
Finding our car in a parking lot.
Parking lots
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Complex situation:
Large shoppincentres(Colombo, Vasco da Gama, Forum Almada)
Most of the time we manage to find our car.
How?
When does it go wrong?
Parking lots
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When we enter we make a map, our car is the
most interesting object.
Problems:
Wrong car
Wrong floor
Changing context
Solutions: colors, animals, marked billet
The Expedition (hiking and holiday)
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No distance (topographic vs cognitive map)
Norway Tourist Association example:
Lines between huts where trails exist, showing hours of hiking needed with ´normally fast walk without rest´.
Since all the trails are well marked, with signposts at every junction, this little slip of paper is all the tourists need.
The Expedition (hiking and holiday)
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Holiday > Memorabilia > Pictures
The Expedition (hiking and holiday)
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This chemistry is only
possible when you
actually visited the
place.
Otherwise you see just
the picture...
The San Francisco Effect
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Misorientation can vary in strength
The stronger our spatial ability, the stronger
the illusion
Our direction frame has the tendency to rely
on outstanding landmarks
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Dominant surroundings
come from a
direction frame
during childhood
How did a handicap like
this survived the
evolution?
Navigation on the Desktop
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• The problems with metaphors• Bob software
Navigation on the Desktop
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• Making information (the invisible) visible
• Interface could be anything(house, factory, movie, etc)
• Story from PARC is now familiar
Navigation on the Desktop
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• The original idea was limited (different windows on monitor)
• Alan Kay´s solution was to regard the screen as a desk
• It wasn´t very convincing, but the metaphor was NOT an attempt to simulate real world...
Navigation on the Desktop
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• The triumph of Microsoft Windows confirmed the basic value of the graphic interface.
• But there are limitations that come from being too faithful to the original metaphor itself
(Extending the original desktop into more fully 3D spaces, into office buildings and living rooms)
BOB software
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• A living room on every desktop!
• Based on General Magic´s 1994 operating system for handheld computers
Magic Cap
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Bob software
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BOB software (brainstorm interlude)
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• People are visual creatures. If we would have a 3D view of the computer world, life would be simple!
BOB software (brainstorm interlude)
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• People remember where on the page they have read a thought, where in the office they have placed a book.
If we could provide the same 3D facility to computers, interface problems would be solved.
BOB software
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Wrong…
• Vision versus Space• Our spatial abilities are
overstated(good, not perfect, individual differences)
• It is not 3D, but a picture of 3D(In 3D world I loose things; here not)
BOB software
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Wrong…
• BOB is the living room• And also a clean Walt Disney
World(User friendly? Yes! But who wants a friend like that)
• No social interaction with persons(Strange in a networked world)
Metaphors (Final thought)
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• Is a metaphor always wrong?(If it´s not the same, how can it help you?)
• Importance of the difference(Windows versus Windows)
• Does it help you understanding?
(thanks Andre & Edgard for the suggestions)
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Books
Inner Navigation – Eric JonssonInterface culture – Steve JohnsonInvisible computer – Donald NormanDesigning Visual Interfaces – Kevin Mullet
Links
http://toastytech.com/guis/bob.html
http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/showtell/story/0,24330,3316324,00.html
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Xander Roozen/Alta Vision/ LX/ 2002www.ubiquity.org for more info