Teleportation and Navigation in a 3-D Web-Based Virtual Shopping Environment

Abstract

Using teleportation via a map menu icon instead of navigation from store to store via hallways was investigated in a web shopping simulation. Participants shopped in a virtual shopping center, examining and learning about various items. The simulation used HTML web pages that simulated a 3-D virtual environment. Half of the participants traveled from store to store using a map icon, which accurately depicted the shopping center. Clicking on a store in the icon teleported the perspective viewpoint to its doorway. Participants' configural (survey) spatial knowledge was tested using both sketch maps and pointing. No navigation mode differences were found with pointing angular error or sketch map angular error. These results indicate that teleportation via an iconic map did not improve spatial knowledge acquisition. However, it also did not impair it, while making navigation easier.

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