An iPad app for recording movement paths and associated spatial behaviors

Dalton, Nick and Dalton, Ruth and Hoelscher, Christoph and Kuhnmünch, Gregory (2012) An iPad app for recording movement paths and associated spatial behaviors. In: Spatial Cognition VIII : International Conference, Spatial Cognition 2012, Kloster Seeon, Germany, August 31 – September 3, 2012. Proceedings. Lecture Notes of the Institute in Computer Science, 7463 . Springer, Germany, pp. 431-450. ISBN 9783642327315

Abstract

This paper describes an iPad App, known as iPfad (‘Pfad’ means ‘path’ in German) created specifically for the real-time recording of wayfinding behaviors in buildings and outdoor environments. The first part of the paper reviews other spatial-temporal behavioral recording programs and compares their features to the iPfad App, which is introduced in the next section of the paper. The third section presents a pilot study in which the App was tested and discusses the resultant user feedback. It concludes that the iPad is a particularly useful device for behavioral observations in the field, but that further development, particularly of adding additional post-hoc data-analysis, could be beneficial for future versions of the iPfad App.