Not Arbitrary, Systematic! Average-Based Route Selection for Navigation Experiments

Abstract

While studies on human wayfinding have seen increasing interest, the criteria for the choice of the routes used in these studies have usually not received particular attention. This paper presents a methodological framework which aims at filling this gap. Based on a thorough literature review on route choice criteria, we present an approach that supports wayfinding researchers in finding a route whose characteristics are as similar as possible to the population of all considered routes with a predefined length in a particular area. We provide evidence for the viability of our approach by means of both, synthetic and real-world data. The proposed method allows wayfinding researchers to justify their route choice decisions, and it enhances replicability of studies on human wayfinding. Furthermore, it allows to find similar routes in different geographical areas.