Abstract
Two experiments were performed to measure and find ways of improving the accuracy with which people can enter spatial coordinates into a computer with a digitizer puck. A digitizer puck is similar to a mouse; however, rather than serving to position a cursor on a display screen, the puck is used to enter the spatial coordinates of points in a hard-copy document such as a map, photograph, or image representation of text. The first experiment studied the effect of the type of optical sight provided on the puck. The second experiment examined the effect of using a 2.5-power magnifier. Varying the type of optical sight used did not affect accuracy, but use of the magnifier did significantly improve accuracy. The study also suggested some initial estimates of the accuracy levels obtainable by most people. Most of the subjects were accurate to within ± 0.125 mm to ± 0.250 mm of the true target position. Magnification drives the error value down to the lower ends of this range.
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