A Study Of The Effects Of Coded Color And Directional Representations Of Subway Dynamic Maps On Display Clutter And Passenger Performance

Studies have shown that while passenger demand for subway dynamic maps is high,empirical research on their design standards is lacking.The independent variables in this study are different dynamic map design methods.Based on the results of the pre-survey and the subway dynamic map in actual use,this study has two independent variables.The first is a color coding strategy for station signs.There are two levels:using colors with different saturation(turn gray or maintaining the original color)or using colors with different hue(red and green);the second is different arrow marks,which has three levels:no arrow mark,single dynamic arrow mark,and multiple arrow marks(Figure 4-2A and 4-2B).From the perspective of application,find out which of the above design methods is more conducive to passengers’ understanding of subway dynamic maps.This study explains the pros and cons of different design methods from the perspective of display clutter which is affected by both bottom-up and top-down factors.From a bottom-up perspective,this research plan to explore the impact on passenger performance and display clutter when color coding a subway dynamic map using hue or saturation.Explore the influence of the number of arrow marks in the dynamic map on passenger performance and display clutter.From a bottom-up perspective,previous studies have suggested that hue and saturation fit differently when coding relative concepts,so we think that the mental models formed by passengers based on those two methods are also different.This study also study the differences in the mental models formed by different color coding methods,and their impact on display clutter and performance,provide an empirical basis for how to use saturation in visualization,and reveal the the process of how top-down factors affecting display clutter.From the perspective of application,firstly,a behavior experiment that was performed in a highly ecologically-simulated car environment was designed,and different design methods were evaluated in a simulated journey(with three dynamic maps reading tasks,including the task of allowing passengers to determine whether the current direction of the train they are traveling on is correct for passenger performance)..The results are as follows:(1)In the first study,for the tasks that the information brought by the independent variables are not directly related to what information the task requires,the subjects faced an arrow that would increase the interface display density.Performance.(2)For the color coding strategy,coding using saturation is more conducive to the subject’s understanding of the direction of the train.Study 2 is based on the behavioral paradigm of the predecessors.The results are as follows:(1)By investigating the respondent’s mental model of the driving direction,we found that the saturation coding method is more conducive to the passengers’ establishment of the correct mental model;(2)through relative comparison task,explored the causes of the differences in mental models,and found that saturation is more suitable for encoding relative concepts such as "front" and "back",and that "gray" is closer to the conception that the subway dynamic map try to express than "red" and "green".Study 3 provided a process-oriented basis for the mental model’s influence on process of displaying clutter and performance through a mixed design(coded colors as between-group variable and arrow marks as within-group variable)eye movement experiment.The results of the third study found that:(1)Participants’ psychological models affected their attention distribution,which in turn caused performance differences.(2)When faced with a design method that increases the interface display density,the trend of their eye movement indicators is also in line with the cluttered interfaces’ trend of eye movement indicators in previous studies.From a bottom-up perspective:(1)The eye movement indicators in Study 1 and Study 3 show that using too many arrow marks and excessive color changes in the subway dynamic map will increase the level of clutter on the map.,Negatively affect passenger performance.From a top-down perspective:(2)Research 2 found that because saturation is more suitable for encoding relative concepts and "gray" is closer to the concept that the subway dynamic map wants to express,it is easier for participants to conduct research based on the use of saturation.The coded map forms a mental model of the direction of travel.Study 3 found that the participants’ mental model could guide their attention distribution,which affected their perceived display clutter and performance.Overall,for the design of subway dynamic maps,our results show that the use of a combination of saturation coding and dynamic single arrows is more conducive to passenger understanding of the map.This study starts from the subway dynamic map,it explores the optimal design of the subway dynamic map based on the two independent variables of the study.It also has recommendations for data visualization and display interface design.