Effects of Field Dependency and Map Type on Wayfinding Strategies

Abstract

To upgrade tourism experience, gender and sociocultural differences of wayfinding strategy are critical topics in tourism planning and management. However, the navigation system in real world does not differentiate the gender and regional difference during giving voice navigation. Therefore, in order to provide the future based navigation with more specific foundation, this paper investigates the mediation effect of field dependency on the gender influence and the moderating effect of map type on the regional differences in the wayfinding strategy. The former one was studied by the survey with the embedded figures test and the wayfinding strategy scale. The latter one was examined by the model town experiment simulating a grid-like/askew structure city environment and an askew structure community map. The results show (1) females used more route strategies than males did because females have higher field dependency; (2) participants from Shanghai (an askew-structure city) preferred route strategy in the grid-like/askew structure city maps; (3) mixed strategy was used by participants from Beijing (a grid-structure city) and all participants in askew structure community map. In summary, route wayfinding strategy is the common one most people used, but oriented wayfinding strategy should also be provided for personalized setting (i.e., for males, and for residents from region with grid-like city structure). The results have important implications for the design of sign and route guidance system of tourism and the improvement of public transit and pedestrian mobility. Developers of navigation systems can design the presetting of speech instructions based on city structures and map scales.