Waypoint navigation on land : different ways of coding distance to the next waypoint

We investigated experimentally the feasibility of using a tactile display developed by TNO Human Factors as a wayfinding aide for soldiers in the field. Participants walked ten routes on a open field, each route consisting of six waypoints. The participants used the PeTaNa tactile wayfinding aide on all trials. PeTaNa is a wearable system that presents navigation information based on predefined routes, a GPS system, and an electronic compass. A minicomputer calculates the navigation input on the basis of heading and distance to the next waypoint. The navigation messages are presented on a tactile display consisting of eight tactors on a belt around the torso. PeTaNa proved to be a very efficient navigation tool, as after approximately 30 minutes (5 routes) all participants demonstrated very acceptable effective walking speeds (4-4.5 km/h). The differences between the coding alternatives for distance to the next waypoint were surprisingly small.