Can You Find Your Way? Comparing Wayfinding Behaviour Between Reality and Virtual Reality

Abstract

Signage is an essential element in finding one's way and avoiding getting lost in open and indoor environments. Yet, designing an effective signage system for a complex structure remains a challenge, as some buildings may need to communicate a lot of information in a minimum amount of space. Virtual reality (VR) provides a new way of studying human wayfinding behaviour, offering a flexible and cost-effective platform for assessing the efficiency of signage, especially during the design phase of a building. However, it is not yet clear whether wayfinding behaviour and signage interpretation differ between reality and virtual reality. We conducted a wayfinding experiment using signage with 20 participants who performed a series of tasks in virtual and real conditions. Participants were video-recorded in both conditions. In addition, oral feedback and post-experiment questionnaires were collected as supplementary data. The aim of this study was to investigate the wayfinding behaviour of a user using signs in an unfamiliar real and virtual environment. The results of the experiment showed a similarity in behaviour between both environments; regardless of the order of passage and the environment, participants required less time to complete the task during the second run by reducing their mistakes and learning from their first run.