in-car gps navigation: engagement with and disengagement from the environment
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CHI2008 presentation: In-Car GPS Navigation: Engagement with and Disengagement from the EnvironmentTRANSCRIPT
In-Car GPS Navigation: In-Car GPS Navigation: Engagement with and Disengagement Engagement with and Disengagement
from the Environmentfrom the Environment
Gilly LeshedGilly Leshed11, Theresa Velden, Theresa Velden11, Oya Rieger, Oya Rieger22, , Blazej KotBlazej Kot11, Phoebe Sengers, Phoebe Sengers11
11Information Science, Information Science, 22CommunicationCommunication
Cornell UniversityCornell University
December 26, 2007
Garmin GPS -- one of the top-selling holiday items in 2007 at Amazon.com
Driving and navigating with in-car GPSchange engagement with the environment
Outline
• Theoretical framework– Losses vs. opportunities– Space and place
• Field study– Navigation– Orientation– The experience of driving
• Implications and Conclusions– The broader context– Design implications
Outline
• Theoretical framework– Losses vs. opportunities– Space and place
• Field study– Navigation– Orientation– The experience of driving
• Implications and Conclusions– The broader context– Design implications
• GPS relieves the need to observe the environment while driving and navigating (Aporta & Higgs, 2005)
Loss of engagement
• GPS provides new forms of interacting with the environment (Dourish, 2006)
Opportunity for engagement
Losses vs. opportunities
photo: www.alaska-in-pictures.com
Space and Place
• Space – abstract, open, allows movement
• Place – concrete, stable, represents pause, has value(Tuan, 1977; Harrison & Dourish, 1996)
• Participating in the environment creates a sense of place in a blurred space
• Interacting with technological spaces and places in GPS affects interaction with physical spaces and places
Space and Place
• Space – abstract, open, allows movement
• Place – concrete, stable, represents pause, has value(Tuan, 1977; Harrison & Dourish, 1996)
• Participating in the environment creates a sense of place in a blurred space
• Interacting with technological spaces and places in GPS affects interaction with physical spaces and places
Outline
• Theoretical framework– Losses vs. opportunities– Space and place
• Field study– Navigation– Orientation– The experience of driving
• Implications and Conclusions– The broader context– Design implications
Field study of in-car GPS users
Participants• 10 users of in-car GPS systems
Method• Used own devices
or friends’/family’s• 5 pre-planned rides
5 artificial trips• 1-3 hours
observation & interview
Data• Field notes • Audio-recordings
Results:1. Navigation
Pre-navigation/route choice• Key in destination, no need to know where it is• GPS calculates route based on settings – not
necessarily matching driving experiences
“it gave us some bizarre routes to get back to Ithaca… turns out that the toll road setting was on [laughs]. I ignored it… and we figured it out later.”
Route following• No need to attend to objects along the
way: blindly following vocal directions• GPS automatically calculates new route
when instructions not followed• But – Glance at the GPS map or bring
other navigation aids
Results:1. Navigation
“The only thing you have to do with the nav system is you have to learn what a quarter of a mile feels like, you know, otherwise it says a quarter of a mile and you think ‘Oh, I need to turn!’ and you turn too soon.”
• Getting lost and feeling lost• Free to explore
Results:2. Orientation
“it makes me much more confident to know that if I get lost I can find my way home again. I don’t have to stress about getting lost anymore.”
Social interactions around the GPS• GPS designed for driver-unit interaction
But many drive with others in the car
• Driver/navigator roles• But passenger can interact with GPS unit
Results:3. The experience of driving
“it used to be that whoever wasn’t driving was the navigator... And so if there was a mistake made, the navigator would say ‘Turn! Turn!’ and it would be drama. But now, if you miss a turn… it’s just automatic.”
Treating the GPS unit as a social agent• Naming the GPS unit: “Heather”, “Mrs. Prius”• Talking to unit in a social way
Results:3. The experience of driving
Go home!
Oh, I thought you were
talking to me
Interactions with the external environment• Interaction with virtual world drives interaction with
physical world(e.g. POI, road curvature on map)
• Physical space remains indistinct – places are in GPS
Vs.
Enriched interactions with physical spaces and places
Results:3. The experience of driving
“Remember when we all went white water rafting? We were in this really strange town and the GPS found us a place to eat.”
Discussion
• Loss of environmental engagement
• But also new opportunities for engagement
• Blurred boundaries between physical and virtual worlds
Outline
• Theoretical framework– Losses vs. opportunities– Space and place
• Field study– Navigation– Orientation– The experience of driving
• Implications and Conclusions– The broader context– Design implications
The Broader Context (1)
Commodification and de-skilling (Borgmann, 1984)• Navigation and orientation as commodity – no skilled
interaction with environment is necessary• Satisfaction from practicing skill replaced by comfort of
effortless consumption
The Broader Context (2)
Automobilization(Urry, 2004; Thrift, 2004)• The role of the car in detaching its passengers from their
surroundings
Design implications for environment awareness and interaction
(1) Navigate by landmarks(2) Support the car as a social place(3) Highlight ambiguity of GPS data(4) Extend context-aware capabilities
Design implications for environment awareness and interaction
(1) Navigate by landmarks(2) Support the car as a social place(3) Highlight ambiguity of GPS data(4) Extend context-aware capabilities
Design implications for environment awareness and interaction
(1) Navigate by landmarks
Design implicationsfor environment awareness and interaction
(2) Support the car as a social place
Conclusions
In-car GPS navigation alters how people interpret, navigate through, experience, and interact with spaces and places
– Immersion in technological environment and disengagement from physical environment
– New tools and information resources enrich travel experiences
Design implications for engaged environmental interactions– In light of larger socio-technical context of GPS as a paradigm
for technological devices and the automobile age
Thank you
[email protected]@cs.cornell.edu
field researchHrönn BrynjarsdóttirEllie BuckleyLucian LeahuHeather MarciniecMeena NatarajanClaudia PedersonSadat ShamiHowyee Au Yong
adviceJeremy BirnholtzBarry BrownKirsten BoehnerPaul Dourish
$$$NSF IIS-0238132 NSF IIS-0534445