Going to town: Visualized perspectives and navigation through virtual environments

Two experiments examined how spatial learning perspectives support navigation through virtual urban environments. Participants briefly learned the overall layout of a virtual desktop environment, and then were taken on a simulated journey ending at a starting location within the environment. In Experiment 1, during the journey participants watched simulated video feeds either from the front of the vehicle (route perspective), above the vehicle (survey perspective), both feeds simultaneously, or no video at all. Participants then navigated between ten successive landmarks, and we measured indices of spatial and temporal efficiency, and heading error. Results indicated that the route perspective supported a restricted range of local navigation whereas the survey perspective better supported far-space navigation. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the survey perspective also better supports navigation around unexpected detours. Results are discussed with regard to theories of spatial memory and the design of computer-supported spatial visualization technologies.

► First examination of spatial perspective influences on virtual navigation and problem solving.
► Navigation through proximal-space is best supported by first-person perspective learning.
► Navigation through distal-space is best supported by aerial perspective learning.
► Flexible navigation around detours is best supported by aerial perspective learning.
► Computer-supported visualization technologies differentially support efficient navigation.