Wayfinding in Scene Space:
Transfers in public transport

Wayfinding when there is no network.
PhD project by Urs-Jakob Rüetschi.

Introduction - Download Thesis - Publications - Presentations - Miscellaneous

Introduction

Wayfinding is a daily activity for all of us. It is about the knowledge and the information processing required for getting from here to there. Wayfinding is the cognitive part of navigation.

Wayfinding in the public transport system takes place on traffic networks: lines that are interconnected at nodes, ranging in size from small stops to large stations. The network is essential to wayfinding because it is the basis for routing decisions. But to the traveller, the stops and stations are equally important: they are the places where the complexity of the system is most intensely experienced. Moreover, nodes usually do not have a network structure that could guide travellers.

This indicates that there are two aspects to the environment in which the wayfinding takes place: the network aspect and the non-network aspect. We refer to the former as network space and to the latter as scene space. Scene space consists of scenes: places that the traveller can see from a single vantage point by looking around and will be perceived as a coherent unit. These scenes are linked by gateways, grouped together by spatial and functional arrangement, and can contain items such as signs, ticket booths, and people. Typical scenes are squares and platforms. Examples of environments with a dominant scene space aspect include railway stations, university campuses, public greens, and shopping malls.

When considering nodes in the public transport system, network space controls (to some extent) how people behave in scene space because network space determines where and when means of transport arrive and depart. This fixation of place and time is defined in the timetable, one of the characteristics of public transport as opposed to private transport. Therefore, the timetable imposes restrictions on feasible and reasonable navigation at transfer nodes.

The goal of this project is to develop a model of human wayfinding at interchange nodes in the public transport network. This task is split into two phases: first, a formal and cognitively plausible representation of knowledge about scene space is needed; second, the process of wayfinding itself has to be modelled.

Such a model can add to our understanding of the complex phenomenon of wayfinding and serve as a component in transportation simulations. A special focus will be on the representation of the environment in a cognitively plausible way. To this end, we base our model on the idea of cognitive schemata and simple hierarchical relations among them, in accordance with the common belief that human knowledge is hierarchically structured.

Keywords: Wayfinding, public transportation, networks, scene space, cognitive schemata.

Download Thesis

Thesis text: diss-ujr.pdf (1.25MB)

Software: Odeon.jar (355KB Java application)
Enge Data: Enge.odeon and Enge.cmd
Wiedikon Data: Wiedikon.odeon and Wiedikon.cmd
(You may need to right-click and "Save as" to get these files).

Odeon is the Java application that implements Schematic Geometry (the model of scene space) and can perform wayfinding simulations. It is explained in Appendix C of the thesis. The jar file is directly executable and also contains the complete source. Enge.odeon and Wiedikon.odeon are the Schematic Geometry models of the Enge and Wiedikon stations. They can be loaded by Odeon. The two cmd files are are the batch files that were used to perform the simulations in Chapter 5 of the thesis.

Publications

Richter, K.F. and Rüetschi, U.J. (2006): The Cognitive Approach to Modeling Environments (CAME'06). Proceedings of the GIScience Workshop. SFB/TR 8 Report 009-08/2006. September 20, 2006, Münster. [PDF]

Rüetschi, U.J. and Timpf, S. (2006): Cognitively Motivated Simulation of Transfers in Public Transport. International Symposium on Transport Simulation, EPFL, Lausanne, September 4-6. [PDF] [ISTS'06]

Rüetschi, U.J., Caduff, D., Schulz, F., Wolff, A., Timpf, S. (2006): Network Routing by Landmarks. Swiss Transport Research Conference, Monte Verità, Ascona, March 15-17. [PDF] [Slides] [STRC]

Rüetschi, U.J. and Timpf, S. (2005): Using Image Schemata to Represent Meaningful Spatial Configurations. Pages 1047-1055 in On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems 2005: OTM 2005 Workshops (LNCS 3762), edited by Robert Meersman et al. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2005. [PDF] [SpringerLink]

Rüetschi, U.J. and Timpf, S. (2005): Modelling Wayfinding in Public Transport: Network Space and Scene Space. Pages 24-41 in Spatial Cognition IV (LNAI 3343), edited by Christian Freksa et al. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2005. [PDF] [SpringerLink]

Rüetschi, U.J. and Timpf, S. (2004): Schematic Geometry of Public Transport Spaces for Wayfinding. Pages 191-203 in Geoinformation und Mobilität, proceedings of the Münsteraner GI-Tage 2004, July 1-2, Münster, Germany. [PDF]

Heye, C., Rüetschi, U.J., and Timpf, S. (2003): Komplexität von Routen in öffentlichen Verkehrssystemen. Pages 159-168 in Angewandte Geographische Informationsverarbeitung XV, proceedings of the AGIT conference 2003, July 2-4, Salzburg, Austria. [PDF]

Rüetschi, U.J. (2002): GIS-Workshop, Kanti Wohlen. Pages 19-21 in GeoAgenda 6/2002 (Mitteilungsblatt des Verbandes Geographie Schweiz).

Presentations

Rüetschi, U.J. (2007): Navigating Unknown Territory: Representing Cognitive Environments. Presentation at the 4th Annual Research Conference of the National University of Rwanda, November 1, 2007. [PDF]

Rüetschi, U.J. (2007): Representing Cognitively Defined Space. Presentation at the Center for Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing of the National University of Rwanda in Butare, Rwanda, September 13, 2007.

Rüetschi, U.J. (2007): Wayfinding in Scene Space. Presentation at the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in Bern, Monday, September 3, 2007.

Rüetschi, U.J. (2007): Wayfinding in Scene Space. Invited presentation at the Cognitive Systems Colloquium, University of Freiburg, May 18, 2007.

Rüetschi, U.J. and Timpf, S. (2005): Representing Scenes with Image Schemata. Poster presentation at COSIT'05 conference, September 14-18, 2005, Ellicottville NY, USA. [PDF]

Rüetschi, U.J. (2004): Schematic Geometry. Developing a formalism to model wayfinding at transfer nodes in public transport networks. Presented at the Algorithmics Group, Faculty of Informatics, University of Karlsruhe, November 9, 2004.

Rüetschi, U.J. (2003): Wegfindung und Raumwahrnehmung im öffentlichen Verkehr. Poster presentation at AGIT conference, July 2-4, 2003, Salzburg, Austria. [PDF]

Miscellaneous

Abstract: 2-page abstract (PDF) and topics
Techniques: image schemata, posets (PDF)
Study objects: Bahnhof Enge, Bahnhof Wiedikon
Timetables: SBB, ZVV, DB.
Dictionary: Verkehrsbegriffe
Play with the A* algorithm

This Ph.D. is part of the SNF project No 2151-06529101 "Problem-Solving Knowledge for Multimodal Wayfinding" by Sabine Timpf.

Ebenfalls im Rahmen dieses Projektes arbeitet David Caduff an einem Routenfinder unter Einbezug von Landmarken und befasste sich Corinna Heye mit der Komplexität von Haltestellen und der Ermittlung von einfachsten Routen im städtischen öffentlichen Verkehr.

Themenverwandte Diplomarbeiten finden sich auf der Liste der KoMoNa-Diplomarbeitsthemen.