Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The secret is to follow your nose
T2 - Route path selection and angularity
AU - Dalton, R.C.
PY - 2003
Y1 - 2003
N2 - This article presents an experiment in which route choice decisions made at road junctions are recorded. Such routes can be expressed as the sum of individual decisions made or potential decisions available throughout a journey. Relationships between these aggregate values are assessed statistically, indicating that participants’ decisions correlate more strongly with maximum angles of incidence of road center lines (leading from a junction) than to mean or minimum angles. One interpretation is that participants appear to be attempting to conserve linearity throughout their journey. However, informal observations of participants traversing urban grids cast doubt on the proposed theories of the conservation of angular linearity, requiring the theory’s modification. The resultant hypothesis combines principles of a conservation of linearity while also minimizing the angular difference between pairs of bearings; the key bearings are the directions of potential route choices and a perceived bearing of the wayfinding goal as judged from sequential instances of the observer’s location.
AB - This article presents an experiment in which route choice decisions made at road junctions are recorded. Such routes can be expressed as the sum of individual decisions made or potential decisions available throughout a journey. Relationships between these aggregate values are assessed statistically, indicating that participants’ decisions correlate more strongly with maximum angles of incidence of road center lines (leading from a junction) than to mean or minimum angles. One interpretation is that participants appear to be attempting to conserve linearity throughout their journey. However, informal observations of participants traversing urban grids cast doubt on the proposed theories of the conservation of angular linearity, requiring the theory’s modification. The resultant hypothesis combines principles of a conservation of linearity while also minimizing the angular difference between pairs of bearings; the key bearings are the directions of potential route choices and a perceived bearing of the wayfinding goal as judged from sequential instances of the observer’s location.
U2 - 10.1177/0013916502238867
DO - 10.1177/0013916502238867
M3 - Journal article
VL - 35
SP - 107
EP - 131
JO - Environment and Behavior
JF - Environment and Behavior
SN - 0013-9165
IS - 1
ER -