Using virtual reality to determine how emergency signs facilitate way-finding.

In this study, virtual reality was the tool used to construct an experimental space. Three scenarios - one without emergency signs, another with an old-version emergency sign, and the third with a new-version emergency sign - were created, after which 107 subjects, divided into three groups, engaged in an emergency escape game to determine if and how various emergency signs aid in way-finding in the event of an emergency. Under the presupposition that the minimum time needed for an emergency escape without any mistake occurring was 40s, we found that the average way-finding time in the scenario without any emergency signs was 123.8s, for the scenario with the new-version signs 84.8s, and for the scenario with the old-version signs 75.6s; statistically, this demonstrated that the absence of signs results in slower escape than either old signs (p=0.001) or new signs (p=0.005). These findings indicate that signs do help way-finding greatly. Males were found to exhibit better way-finding skills than females (p<0.001). Construction workers and fire safety personnel, as a combined group, did not fare better than others with less presumed prior experience with building plans or emergency exit procedures. In addition, when faced with both an emergency direction sign and an exit door, almost half of the subjects (42% of the participants) were chosen to take the door instead of following the direction posted on the sign. Finally, we found that, at T-intersections, the majority of participants (60%) chose to turn left versus right.

[1]  Belinda L Collins,et al.  Visibility of exit directional indicators , 1991 .

[2]  Michael J. Rovine,et al.  Sketch-map variables as predictors of way-finding performance , 1989 .

[3]  Belinda L Collins,et al.  Evaluation of safety symbols , 1979 .

[4]  Belinda L. Collins,et al.  An evaluation of exit symbol visibility , 1983 .

[5]  Neil D Lerner.  Evaluation of exit directional symbols , 1981 .

[6]  Benjamin Kuipers,et al.  The Cognitive Map: Could It Have Been Any Other Way? , 1983 .

[7]  J. Pellegrino,et al.  Computational Process Modeling of Spatial Cognition and Behavior , 2010 .

[8]  Jonathan Grudin,et al.  The computer reaches out: the historical continuity of interface design , 1989, CHI '90.

[9]  S. Doherty,et al.  A conceptual model and empirical analysis of children's acquisition of spatial knowledge , 1985 .

[10]  Belinda L. Collins,et al.  Visibility of exit signs in clear and smoky conditions , 1993 .

[11]  Michael Jouellette.  Exit signs in smoke: Design parameters for greater visibility , 1988 .

[12]  E. Tolman.  Cognitive maps in rats and men. , 1948, Psychological review.

[13]  Jonathan Steuer,et al.  Defining virtual reality: dimensions determining telepresence , 1992 .

[14]  Michael O'Neill.  A biologically based model of spatial cognition and wayfinding , 1991 .

[15]  Yehuda E. Kalay,et al.  Evaluating and predicting design performance , 1992 .

[16]  Romedi Passini,et al.  Wayfinding: People, Signs, and Architecture , 1992 .

[17]  R. Passini.  Spatial representations, a wayfinding perspective , 1984 .

[18]  Janet Reizenstein Carpman,et al.  Hospital Design and Wayfinding , 1985 .

[19]  F Nichols,et al.  DESIGNING FOR PEDESTRIANS: A CAD-NETWORK ANALYSIS APPROACH , 1991 .

[20]  Mikael Johansson,et al.  Users' evaluation of a virtual reality architectural model compared with the experience of the completed building , 2006 .

[21]  Michael J. Singer,et al.  Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Presence Questionnaire , 1998, Presence.

[22]  Belinda Lowenhaupt Collins.  The Development and Evaluation of Effective Symbol Signs , 1982 .

[23]  Michael O'Neill,et al.  Effects of Signage and Floor Plan Configuration on Wayfinding Accuracy , 1991 .

[24]  J. Raffucci,et al.  Exit-sign image degradation in smoke: A quantitative simulation , 1996 .

[25]  Jerry Weisman,et al.  Evaluating Architectural Legibility , 1981 .

[26]  C. Lawton.  STRATEGIES FOR INDOOR WAYFINDING: THE ROLE OF ORIENTATION , 1996 .

[27]  L Hamayon,et al.  Direction - Finding in Large Buildings , 1969 .

[28]  Ching-Yuan Lin,et al.  Exploratory research on reading cognition and escape-route planning using building evacuation plan diagrams. , 2008, Applied ergonomics.

[29]  Jonathan Grudin,et al.  Interface: an evolving concept , 1993, CACM.

[30]  Michael O'Neill,et al.  Evaluation of a Conceptual Model of Architectural Legibility , 1991 .

[31]  M. Powell Lawton,et al.  Physical Structure and the Behavior of Senile Patients following Ward Remodeling , 1970 .

[32]  Ganesh D. Bhatt,et al.  Bringing virtual reality for commercial Web sites , 2004, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[33]  Kenneth Walsh.  Reducing Distance in Electronic Commerce Using Virtual Reality , 2001 .

[34]  Neil H. Eklund,et al.  Exit Sign Recognition for Color Normal and Color Deficient Observers , 1999 .

[35]  Tommy Gärling,et al.  Spatial orientation and wayfinding in the designed environment: A conceptual analysis and some suggestions for postoccupancy evaluation. , 1986 .

[36]  R. Klatzky,et al.  Navigator: A psychologically based model of environmental learning through navigation , 1989 .

[37]  Ching-Yuan Lin,et al.  A virtual-reality-based feasibility study of evacuation time compared to the traditional calculation method , 2000 .

[38]  B. L. Collins.  Visibility of Exit Signs and Directional Indicators , 1991 .

[39]  R. R. Boyce,et al.  Effective Directional Indicators for Exit Signs , 1995 .

[40]  Dorothy Wright.  This Way Out. , 2000 .

[41]  Steffen Werner,et al.  The Role of Spatial Reference Frames in Architecture , 2004 .

[42]  J R Wilson,et al.  Virtual environments applications and applied ergonomics. , 1999, Applied ergonomics.