Mindful navigation for pedestrians: Improving engagement with augmented reality

• It is possible to increase the efficiency of pedestrian navigation by making it more mindful.
• Augmented reality, perceived control and engagement may improve the navigation experience and its performance.
• A more mindful navigation results in a more pleasant experience.

Navigation systems are often followed mindlessly, as users may focus the attention on the device and not on the path. The risk of errors and bias related to the mindless adherence of the instruction is high.We suggested that a mindful walking navigation system could reduce the errors and improve the overall exploration experience. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis with an Augmented Reality system, with information directly projected on the path, in comparison with a standard device. Moreover, we tested the hypothesis that when users feel they are in control of their path, both performance and overall experience would improve. We found that both conditions increased the navigation performance and experience, decreased travel time, errors, and confusion and it increased the number of landmarks noticed.