A location representation for generating descriptive walking directions

ABSTRACT

An expressive representation for location is an important component in many applications. However, while many location-aware applications can reason about space at the level of coordinates and containment relationships, they have no way to express the semantics that define how a particular space is used. We present Lair, an ontology that addresses this problem by modeling both the geographical relationships between spaces as well as the functional purpose of a given space. We describe how Lair was used to create an application that produces walking directions comparable to those given by a person, and a pilot study that evaluated the quality of these directions. We also describe how Lair can be used to evaluate other intelligent user interfaces.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: User-centered design

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
location ontologies, navigation directions