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Investigating presentation of rail-specific spatial information on handheld computer screens

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Abstract

Spatial information is one of the most commonly used items of information for rail maintenance workers and providing this information to track workers while mobile offers potential advantages in terms of efficiency and communication accuracy. However, displaying track diagrams and other rail-specific spatial information on the small screen of a handheld computer presents several human computer interaction challenges that need to be considered. Three experiments were conducted to investigate different aspects of presenting spatial information on handheld computers. These experiments were conducted with current job holders at their place of work. The first experiment aimed at investigating the differences between presenting rail-specific information on handheld computers compared with paper-based documents. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, the findings of this experiment demonstrate the potential for handheld computers to provide a more efficient and effective means of displaying rail spatial information. The second experiment aimed to discover the optimum amount of information that can be presented on the screen of a handheld computer device. The results of this experiment demonstrate that although different combinations of length of track and amount of information affect user’s performance, the structure of spatial information displayed on the screen is also very important. The third experiment identified that although the type of information presented to the track workers did not have an effect on their performance, postexperiment interviews revealed the importance of the type of information for track workers depending on the type of task they perform. These findings have implications for the design of small screen representations of spatial information in future mobile devices.

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Notes

  1. Chains are a measurement unit used in the railway for measuring length. 80 chains equal a UK mile.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Factors Research Group, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

    Yasamin Dadashi, Sarah Sharples & John Wilson

  2. Ergonomics Team, Network Rail, 40 Melton Street, London, NW1 2EE, UK

    John Wilson & Theresa Clarke

Authors
  1. Yasamin Dadashi
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  2. Sarah Sharples
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  3. John Wilson
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  4. Theresa Clarke
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Correspondence to Yasamin Dadashi.

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Dadashi, Y., Sharples, S., Wilson, J. et al. Investigating presentation of rail-specific spatial information on handheld computer screens. Pers Ubiquit Comput 16, 1051–1064 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-011-0439-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-011-0439-4

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