Pathlight: Group Navigation in a Museum using a Personal Projector

ABSTRACT In this paper we describe the in-progress work of the Pathlight navigation system for groups and individuals, which is a supplemental project to the PIL mobile museum guide. Pathlight provides indoor navigation support in the museum using a handheld projector. We describe some of the advantages the system provides, look at some background, briefly describe some system features, and posit some open questions for further investigation. Author Keywords Mobile museum guides, handheld projectors, navigation, small groups, museum visitors. ACM Classification Keywords H5.m. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI). General Terms Design, Human Factors. INTRODUCTION Imagine you and your friends visit the Louvre museum at Paris. You desperately want to see the Mona Lisa; members of your the group needs to take a decision on which path to go, group agree, but want to see the Hammurabi Codes on the way. How do you navigate as a group through the museum? If you reach a certain point where there are two possible routes, how can members of the group decide which way to go? Would having a mobile projector be beneficial in this scenario? What specific user interface techniques could be used with mobile projection? Technology supporting indoor navigation is not easy; there are many technological and user interface challenges [9]. So far, Navigation support has focused mainly on the individual visitor, and even for that task there is no prevailing solution. Providing navigational support to groups USER INTERFACES involves not only pure navigation (e.g. directions about how to get from A to B) but also group decision making concerning navigation. This in-progress research project aims at addressing group navigational support by using a personal mobile projector as a delivery vehicle for navigational aids. We examine this within a mobile museum guide solution in a museum setting. The museum environment is an excellent environment to examine navigational support. People often come to museums in small groups. They wander around indoors, often without a well-defined itinerary, but they do know that they want to go to see certain exhibits and want to be aware of their surroundings. A personal mobile projector solution can provide navigation support to small groups (and individuals) in the museum setting, taking into account the group related aspects in addition to providing a user-friendly method for route navigation. One advantage a mobile handheld projector provides as opposed to other mobile navigational device displays (such as a map or directions on the display of a small mobile handheld device) is a shared visual space for all of the members of the group. This shared space may contribute to a feeling of togetherness. In addition, in a scenario where the projector can facilitate discussion and decision making and allow more transparency of choice to the group. It allows for other modes of decision making, besides that of the single leader with the map/guide. A system which would project directions also provide for silent communication, which is often desirable in a museum context. Other advantages consist of the larger image which is easier to see and can contain more detail, than what is easily readable on a mobile handheld guide. This can facilitate the use of visualized directions and the use of landmark pictures (possibly multiple) for navigation