2026-07-23T20:05:24Z https://drops.dagstuhl.de/oai

oai:drops-oai.dagstuhl.de:20830 2024-09-09T09:21:19Z ddc:004 open_access

Exploring the Relation Between Sense of Direction and Spatial Anxiety in Everyday Mobile Map App Use (Short Paper) Zingaro, Donatella Reichenbacher, Tumasch Bartling, Mona Fabrikant, Sara Irina mobile map apps sense of direction spatial anxiety app-switching navigation touchscreen interactions 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. Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik Donatella Zingaro and Tumasch Reichenbacher and Mona Bartling and Sara Irina Fabrikant 2024 Is Part Of LIPIcs, Volume 315, 16th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2024) InProceedings Text doc-type:ResearchArticle publishedVersion application/pdf doi:10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2024.15 urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-208300 https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2024.15 eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode