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