Conroy Dalton, R.; (2001) The secret is to follow your nose: route path selection and angularity. Presented at: 3rd International Space Syntax Symposium, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

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Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experiment in which route-choice decisions made by subjects at road-junctions are recorded. It will then demonstrate that a route can be expressed as the sum of the individual decisions made or as the sum of all possible decisions available (i.e. potential choices) during a journey. The relationship between these two values will be compared statistically indicating that the decisions made at road-junctions correlate more strongly with maximum angles of incidence of road-center-lines leading from a junction than to mean or minimum angles. One interpretation of this phenomenon is that subjects appear to be attempting to conserve linearity throughout their journey. Since any theory based upon the conservation of angular linearity appears to be refuted by certain, informal observations of subjects traversing urban grids, the first theory put forward in this paper is then modified to account for this particular case. The final hypothesis presented in this paper is based upon acts of rule-based decision-making combining principles of the conservation of linearity whilst minimising the angular difference between bearings. The two key bearings are those of the direction of potential route choices compared to the perceived bearings of the wayfinding goal as judged from sequential instances of the observer's location. This theory of modified angular conservation is called 'The British Library Theory'. In (Conroy, 2001) it was demonstrated that the most popular routes from a sample (as calculated using string-matching techniques) also appeared to be more 'linear'. This observation reproduces similar findings made in (Golledge, 1995). The question that these observations prompt is what route choices are individuals making at road junctions such that their actions result in this apparent conservation of route linearity? Therefore, in this paper a method is proposed for the determination of route choice decisions made at consecutive road junctions over the duration of a single journey. This method employs a measure of angular deviation (from a straight line or direction) and uses this to develop a cumulative measure for an individual's entire journey, based upon the summation of all choices made at every junction encountered along the route. The hypothesis that this method was developed to test is that an individual subject will follow as straight a route as possible with minimal angular deviation (from a straight line) on condition that this choice always approximates the direction of their final destination. Another way of stating this hypothesis is that essentially people 'follow their noses' whilst navigating through an environment.

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