The Production of Route Instructions in Underground and Urban Environments

Abstract

The investigation reported here is part of a project to design navigational aids for the Paris subway system. Users of the subway were asked to describe the route to be followed from the platforms of subway stations to specific buildings in the city of Paris. The descriptions thus included two parts: one underground (from the train platform to the exit) and the other in the urban environment (from the exit to the building). Most studies of route directions have been conducted in open environments (campus, city, etc.). The aim here was to contrast the types of description specific to the two contexts. Forty-eight participants (24 male, 24 female) took part in the experiment. Verbal descriptions were analyzed using the procedure proposed by Denis (1997). The results showed that participants relied extensively on signs for the underground part of the route. This was true for subway stations displaying either newly designed or older signs. The paths were rarely referred to in the subway environment, but they were frequently used in the urban environment. The patterns of landmark distribution along the routes were similar in both environments, in that they were more frequent at the nodes where reorientation was needed.

This research was conducted with the support of the RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens).