Improving User Experience of Indoor Maps Through Merging of Rooms

Abstract

The field of indoor map representation is an emerging field of research, contrary to outdoor maps, which has been under research for decades. A lot of focus in indoor maps has been on indoor positioning. However, map representation of indoor maps has not gained much attention. This thesis investigates the concept of level of detail in the context of indoor maps and how the right information can be displayed, potentially leading to an improved overall user experience.

There exist many generalization techniques for outdoor maps, but this has not been much discussed for indoor maps. These techniques and how they can be adapted to indoor environments are discussed in this thesis. An alternative indoor map solution has been implemented based on an existing one, where the new solution is a more dynamic representation of the map, based on zoom level. This solution has been tested through an experiment, where the new solution was compared with a more classical one. The results indicate that a more dynamic level of detail based on zoom level, can contribute to a more efficient navigation and improved user experience for indoors maps.