Which guiding information performs best in metro station: a side-by-side comparison based on an editable VR platform

Area of Science:

• Urban Planning
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Transportation Engineering

Background:

• Effective wayfinding systems are crucial for efficient metro station navigation.
• Previous research often lacks quantitative comparisons of diverse guiding information types.
• Virtual reality offers a controlled environment for simulating and evaluating these systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantitatively compare the effectiveness of various guiding information types in metro stations.
• To identify optimal placement strategies for different signage designs.
• To provide a framework for evaluating directional cues in public transport environments.

Main Methods:

• A virtual reality (VR) experiment involving 224 participants across seven experimental groups.
• Evaluation of guider, traditional signs, new signs, subtitles, video, broadcast, and non-player characters (NPCs).
• Quantitative analysis using perception rate, comprehension time, path selection accuracy, and hesitation time, assessed via entropy weighting.

Main Results:

• Newly designed signs achieved the highest performance score, while subtitles scored the lowest.
• Broadcasts and human guides were more effective than traditional signs and videos.
• NPCs generally impaired navigation performance, affecting perception, accuracy, and hesitation.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a quantitative framework for comparing guiding information effectiveness.
• Newly designed signs and broadcast announcements are recommended for metro wayfinding.
• Specific placement guidelines for pattern-based and color-based signs were identified.