T. Barkowsky et al. (Eds.): Spatial Cognition V, LNAI 4387, pp. 381–400, 2007. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007 How Much Information Do You Need? Schematic Maps in Wayfinding and Self Localisation Tobias Meilinger 1,2 , Christoph Hölscher 1 , Simon J. Büchner 1 , and Martin Brösamle 1 1 University of Freiburg, Centre for Cognitive Science Friedrichstr. 50, 79098 Freiburg, Germany {hoelsch,buechner,martinb}@cognition.uni-freiburg.de 2 Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics Spemannstr. 40, 72076 Tübingen, Germany tobias.meilinger@tuebingen.mpg.de Abstract. The paper is concerned with the empirical investigation of different types of schematised maps. In two experiments a standard floor plan was compared to three strongly schematised maps providing only route knowledge. With the help of one of the maps, the participants had to localise themselves in two tasks and performed two wayfinding tasks in a multi-level building they didn’t know before. We recorded map usage time and a range of task performance measures. Although the map provided much less information, participants performed better in wayfinding with an unambiguous schematic map than with a floor plan. In the self localisation tasks, participants performed equally well with the detailed floor plan and with the schematised map versions. Like the users of a schematic map, users of a floor map presumably oriented on the network structure rather than on local geometric features. This allows them to limit the otherwise potentially very large search space in map-based self localisation. In both types of tasks participants looked at the schematised maps for a shorter time. Providing less than standard information like in a highly schematised map can lead to better performance. We conclude that providing unambiguous turning information (route knowledge) rather than survey knowledge is most crucial for wayfinding in unknown environments. Keywords: Schematisation, map, wayfinding, self localization, route knowledge, survey knowledge, multilevel building. 1 Introduction Maps are a common tool for orienting ourselves in our environment, may they come in paper form or be displayed on our mobile device. Comparing a paper hiking map with one displayed on a mobile device or a subway map the amount of information provided in those maps can vary tremendously. In the paper map you might see individual houses whereas in the mobile or subway map only the coarse direction of routes is displayed. The question of this study is how much information in a map is necessary, how much is superfluous? Is a highly schematised map sufficient for orientation or do we need further details? Does this depend on the goal we want to