Thinking aloud in search of landmark characteristics in an indoor environment

The last decade has seen an increase in the attention towards indoor space and its applications. Within this research topic, landmarks play an important role as these distinct objects exert important functions in the context of navigation and in the construction of a cognitive model of an environment. However, compared to outdoor research, little research has been conducted related to indoor landmarks and their specific characteristics with respect to their use and description. Therefore, the presented study aims to investigate when or where landmarks are mostly needed during a navigational task in a building and how they are verbally expressed. In order to examine these aspects, eleven test persons completed a route in a complex building. While navigating, they had to think out loud and their verbal descriptions were analyzed and compared. The results of this study show that landmarks were most needed on locations where a change of orientation took place. In addition, most referrals were made to objects near the observer. Furthermore, participants preferred to use common nouns to refer to a landmark and more detailing was given by specifying color and material. Finally, the results indicate that predominantly the same elements form the basis to identify an indoor landmark as an outdoor landmark namely visual, structural and semantic features.