Which one helps tourists most? Perspectives of international tourists using different navigation aids

This study aims to examine wayfinding efficiency and behaviors of international tourists when using a mobile navigation aid, as compared with a paper map and local directional signs. Moreover, it intends to explore the extent to which spatial knowledge acquisition varies among those three groups. A total of 86 subjects participated in this study, and completed two wayfinding tasks, starting from a Mass Rapid Transit train station and arriving at two attraction sites, by using assigned wayfinding navigation aids. The results showed significant differences in wayfinding efficiency and level of feeling lost among participants using different navigation aids. The participants who used an English paper map spent the shortest time in wayfinding for both tasks. The participants who used a 3G-based mobile navigation aid gave the highest score to ‘feeling lost all the time,’ as compared with the two other groups. However, the participants using different navigation aids exhibited no significant differences in regard to their wayfinding anxiety and difficulties. According to the sketch maps drawn by the participants, those who used the local signs for wayfinding provided more detailed information/landmarks, and their walking routes were more accurate than those of the two other groups.

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