LIPIcs.COSIT.2024.15.pdf
- Filesize: 1.6 MB
- 8 pages
Document
Exploring the Relation Between Sense of Direction and Spatial Anxiety in Everyday Mobile Map App Use (Short Paper)
Authors
Donatella Zingaro 
,
Tumasch Reichenbacher ,
Mona Bartling ,
Sara Irina Fabrikant
-
Part of:
Volume:
16th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2024)
Series: Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)
Conference: Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT) - License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
- Publication Date: 2024-09-09
File
Document Identifiers
Author Details
Cite AsGet BibTex
Donatella Zingaro, Tumasch Reichenbacher, Mona Bartling, and Sara Irina Fabrikant. Exploring the Relation Between Sense of Direction and Spatial Anxiety in Everyday Mobile Map App Use (Short Paper). In 16th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 315, pp. 15:1-15:8, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)
https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2024.15
https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2024.15
Abstract
Many studies have examined the effect of GPS reliance on individual spatial abilities and emotional disposition. Yet, how those individual differences relate to everyday mobile map interactions in the wild is poorly understood. Hence, we empirically studied the effect of users' sense of direction and spatial anxiety using mobile map apps in their everyday lives by deploying an ecologically valid approach to recording phone-based touchscreen interaction. We operationalised touchscreen interactions as switching patterns for mobile maps and other app categories. We hypothesised that users with a better sense of direction would spend less time on mobile map apps and show increased switching patterns between mobile map apps and other apps compared to users with a worse sense of direction. Conversely, users with higher levels of spatial anxiety would spend more time on mobile map apps and show decreased switching patterns. Our results contradicted our hypotheses. We did, however, find gender-specific trends: Women with higher spatial anxiety switch more often from different categories of apps (for all apps, not specifically map apps) in a phone session. Contrary to our hypothesis, men with a better sense of direction tend to spend more time on mobile map apps. This research reveals insights into the effect of users' spatial abilities and emotional dispositions on everyday users' touchscreen interactions with mobile map apps. It provides ground for mobile map app interaction design on accounting for individual-related differences.
Subject Classification
ACM Subject Classification
- Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI)
- Information systems → Users and interactive retrieval
Keywords
- mobile map apps
- sense of direction
- spatial anxiety
- app-switching
- navigation
- touchscreen interactions
Metrics
- Access Statistics
-
Total Accesses (updated on a weekly basis)
0PDF Downloads
References
- J. N. Borger, R. Huber, and A. Ghosh. Capturing sleep–wake cycles by using day-to-day smartphone touchscreen interactions. npj Digital Medicine, 2(1):73, 2019. URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-019-0147-4.
- E. Ceolini, R. Kock, G. P.H. Band, G. Stoet, and A. Ghosh. Temporal clusters of age-related behavioral alterations captured in smartphone touchscreen interactions. iScience, 25(8):104791, August 2022. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104791.
- T. Deng, S. Kanthawala, J. Meng, W. Peng, A. Kononova, Q. Hao, Q. Zhang, and D. Prabu. Measuring smartphone usage and task switching with log tracking and self-reports. Mobile Media & Communication, 7(1):3-23, January 2019. URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157918761491.
- C. He and M. Hegarty. How anxiety and growth mindset are linked to navigation ability: Impacts of exploration and GPS use. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 71:101475, October 2020. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101475.
- M Hegarty, D. R. Montello, A. E. Richardson, T. Ishikawa, and K. Lovelace. Spatial abilities at different scales: Individual differences in aptitude-test performance and spatial-layout learning. Intelligence, 34(2):151-176, March 2006. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2005.09.005.
-
T. Ishikawa. Satellite Navigation and Geospatial Awareness: Long-Term Effects of Using Navigation Tools on Wayfinding and Spatial Orientation. The Professional Geographer, April 2019. Publisher: Routledge.
- T. Ishikawa. Spatial thinking, cognitive mapping, and spatial awareness. Cognitive Processing, 22(1):89-96, September 2021. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-021-01046-1.
- R. P. Kessels, M. J. van Zandvoort, A. Postma, L. J. Kappelle, and E. H. de Haan. The Corsi Block-Tapping Task: standardization and normative data. Applied neuropsychology, 7(4):252-258, 2000. Place: United States. URL: https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324826AN0704_8.
- M. Kozhevnikov and M. Hegarty. A dissociation between object manipulation spatial ability and spatial orientation ability. Memory & Cognition, 29(5):745-756, 2001. Place: US, Publisher: Psychonomic Society. URL: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03200477.
- L. T. Kozlowski and K. J. Bryant. Sense of direction, spatial orientation, and cognitive maps. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 3(4):590-598, 1977. Place: US, Publisher: American Psychological Association. URL: https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.3.4.590.
- A. Lawton. Gender differences in way-finding strategies: Relationship to spatial ability and spatial anxiety. Sex Roles, 30(11):765-779, June 1994. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01544230.
-
I. Ruginski, N. Giudice, S. Creem-Regehr, and Toru I. Designing mobile spatial navigation systems from the user’s perspective: an interdisciplinary review. Spatial Cognition & Computation, April 2022. Publisher: Taylor & Francis.
- I. T. Ruginski, S. H. Creem-Regehr, J. K. Stefanucci, and E. Cashdan. GPS use negatively affects environmental learning through spatial transformation abilities. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 64:12-20, August 2019. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.05.001.
-
M. Sugimoto, T. Kusumi, N. Nagata, and T. Ishikawa. Online mobile map effect: how smartphone map use impairs spatial memory. Spatial Cognition & Computation, April 2022. Publisher: Taylor & Francis.
- T. Thrash, S. Lanini-Maggi, S. I. Fabrikant, S. Bertel, A. Brügger, S. Credé, C.T. Do, G. Gartner, H. Huang, S. Münzer, and KF. Richter. The Future of Geographic Information Displays from GIScience, Cartographic, and Cognitive Science Perspectives. In Sabine Timpf, Christoph Schlieder, Markus Kattenbeck, Bernd Ludwig, and Kathleen Stewart, editors, 14th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2019), volume 142 of Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), pages 19:1-19:11, Dagstuhl, Germany, 2019. Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik. URL: https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2019.19.
- D. Zingaro, M. Bartling, and T. Reichenbacher. Exploring Map App Usage Behaviour Through Touchscreen Interactions. In Roger Beecham, Jed A. Long, Dianna Smith, Qunshan Zhao, and Sarah Wise, editors, 12th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2023), volume 277 of Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), pages 95:1-95:6, Dagstuhl, Germany, 2023. Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik. ISSN: 1868-8969. URL: https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.GIScience.2023.95.
- D. Zingaro and T. Reichenbacher. Exploratory analysis of mobile app usage in relation to distance from home. In Zingaro, Donatella; Reichenbacher, Tumasch (2022). Exploratory analysis of mobile app usage in relation to distance from home. In: LBS2022, Munich / Augsburg, Germany, 12 September 2022 - 14 September 2022, 59-67., pages 59-67, 2022. URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-224336.
- Donatella Zingaro, Tumasch Reichenbacher, Mona Bartling, and Sara Irina Fabrikant. Exploring the Relation Between Sense of Direction and Spatial Anxiety in Everyday Mobile Map App Use. Supplementary Tables (visited on 2024-08-22). URL: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/KB5M8.