Map-reading and wayfinding form one continuous and indivisible process; however, numerous studies have only focused on one of the two. This study focused on the relationship between map-reading and wayfinding to understand how map users read and acquire information from maps. Thirty Participants were divided into three groups of ten on Shibuya Station in Tokyo. The first group used mounted maps, the second group used a printed handheld copy of the station map, and the third group used a digital map provided by Ekipedia. All participants were allocated the same starting point and destination, and were required to perform map-reading and wayfinding to the destination as well as fill out an evaluation questionnaire. The results showed that the absolute accuracy scores (AASs) of digital-map users were far lower than those of handheld map users. The number of landmarks mentioned in the route planning of different map types and number of stopping times during the wayfinding process were significantly correlated. Digital-map users had the highest frequency of landmark use and longest map-reading times, but the shortest stopping times when wayfinding. The task results indicated that digital users had the lowest errors among the three groups; however, the evaluation questionnaire suggested that participants considered digital maps to be the least effective. Seemingly easy-to-understand maps might not be reflected in participants’ wayfinding behavior. Overall, this study suggested that only the successful matching of maps with the actual environment can enable successful wayfinding and create useful spatial knowledge.

中文翻译：

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不同地下车站地图设计对地图阅读和寻路的影响

地图阅读和寻路形成了一个连续且不可分割的过程；但是，许多研究仅集中在两者之一。这项研究着重于地图读取和寻路之间的关系，以了解地图用户如何从地图中读取和获取信息。在东京涩谷站，有30名参与者被分成3组，每组10个人。第一组使用安装的地图，第二组使用车站地图的打印手持式副本，第三组使用Ekipedia提供的数字地图。为所有参与者分配了相同的起点和终点，并要求他们进行地图读取和对终点的寻路以及填写评估问卷。结果表明，数字地图用户的绝对准确度分数（AAS）远低于手持地图用户的绝对准确度分数。在不同地图类型的路线规划中提及的地标数量与寻路过程中的停车时间数量之间存在显着相关性。数字地图用户具有最高的地标使用频率和最长的地图读取时间，但寻路时的停车时间最短。任务结果表明，数字用户在三组中的错误率最低。但是，评估问卷表明，参与者认为数字地图效果最差。看似易于理解的地图可能未反映在参与者的寻路行为中。总体而言，这项研究表明，只有将地图与实际环境成功匹配，才能成功进行寻路并创建有用的空间知识。