Taiwanese People’s Wayfinding Personas and Tool Preferences

Improving wayfinding system design is a challenge facing hospitals today, and as such this study seeks to improve the design of wayfinding systems by understanding patient routing patterns, wayfinding strategies, and wayfinder tool preference. The methodology of this study has three stages: The first is to administer the Wayfinding Strategies and Related Capabilities Survey [1] to a Taiwanese sample, and then to conduct a factor analysis to isolate important factors. Test subjects included 178 Taiwanese from different professional and education backgrounds. The second stage is based on the ratings of five wayfinding tools used by subjects (Google Maps, map signage, Hand-drawn maps, bystander assistance, and directional signage). A correlation analysis of the helpfulness of the tools and the factors isolated in stage 1 is conducted to separate the subjects into different wayfinding personas. The third stage is conducting interviews of exemplars of the personas found in the second stage. A factor analysis is conducted on the results of the survey, and important survey items are identified. Subjects are divided into one of the following 8 wayfinding personas based on their Wayfinding Ability and Wayfinding Strategy (survey or map strategy): Improvisational, Helpless, Capable, Brute Force, Orienteer, Road-Blind, Map Consultant, and Map-Blind. We advise that prospective designers of smart devices should, in addition to the current functions of Google Maps, consider the habit of hospital users to seek help, as well as the needs of the visually impaired.