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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
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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
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
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References
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