Usefulness of VRML building models in a direction finding context

This paper describes an experiment which aims to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of a Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) building model compared with equivalent architectural plans, for direction finding purposes. The effectiveness and efficiency issues being primarily investigated were number of tasks completed overall and task completion times. The experiment involved a series of tasks where participants had to find a number of locations/objects in a building unknown to them at the outset of the experiment. Statistically significant results are presented for the benefit of the research community, law enforcement officers and fire fighters where it is clear that in this context, the VRML model led to better task completions than the equivalent architectural plans. Regarding the task completion times, no statistical significance was found. Given the current climate of security issues and terrorist threats, it is important that law enforcement officers have at their dis...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: IWC
• Authors: Pietro Murano, Dino Mackey
• Keywords: Equivalent Architectural Plans, IWC 2007, Task Completion, Task Completion Times