Dynamic Landmark Placement as a Navigation Aid in Virtual Worlds

In this paper, we explore the use of dynamically placed landmarks as navigation aids when users search a virtual world for target objects. Subjects were asked to search a virtual world four times for six red spheres. Eighty-six subjects participated in one of four conditions: no landmarks, statically placed landmarks, landmarks dynamically placed into the world at the subject's discretion that disappeared from trial to trial, and landmarks dynamically placed into the world at the subject's discretion that remained from trial to trial. An analysis of the experimental results revealed that dynamic landmarks which disappeared between trials had little impact on a subject's performance. However, when landmarks remained in the world from one trial to the next, subjects covered significantly less distance than those in the no landmark condition, and obtained similar performance to those in the static landmark condition. Results indicate that dynamically placed landmarks, which remain between visits, can serve as effective navigation aids in virtual worlds lacking obvious physical landmarks.