The fire safety of building occupants can be improved by dynamic Emergency Wayfinding Signage systems (EWSs), since they can optimize path selection tasks thanks to real-time data. In view of costs and complexities of real-world testing of dynamic EWSs, Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) can streamline their effectiveness assessments, increasing the number of reference scenarios and of involved participants. Nevertheless, the IVR reliability should be supported by cross-validation between real-world and IVR solutions. This work is aimed at comparing the effectiveness of a dynamic EWS in real-world and two IVR setups: a head-mounted display and a CAVE. The experiments involved 228 volunteers. The experiments investigated route selection on a real-world T-shaped layout, in a university building with and without simulated smoke and lighting. The effectiveness of a dynamic EWS was assessed using the Theory of Affordance. Differences in specific affordances exist between IVR and real-world tests. Nevertheless, the analysis of functional affordance (assessing the effectiveness of EWS in guiding occupants towards a safe area) shows that IVR tests provide similar results to real-world ones, by also not overestimating the EWS effectiveness. Differences among scenario conditions and CAVE or HMD tests were identified too. On the one hand, outcomes hence support outcomes of previous works, which remark that differences could be mainly due to the scenario brightness and to the level of immersion/presence in IVR. On the other hand, results encourage the use of IVR to actively contribute to preliminary behavioural-based design and testing of dynamic EWSs.

Evaluating the effectiveness of dynamic evacuation wayfinding signage systems: comparing real-world and immersive virtual reality experiments / D'Orazio, Marco; Monni, Francesco; Chierico, Luigi; Lovreglio, Ruggero; Bernardini, Gabriele; Quagliarini, Enrico. - ELETTRONICO. - (2025), pp. 93-93. (Intervento presentato al convegno Colloqui.AT.e 2025 - ENVISIONING THE FUTURES - Designing and building for people and the environment tenutosi a Trento nel 11-14/06/2025).

Evaluating the effectiveness of dynamic evacuation wayfinding signage systems: comparing real-world and immersive virtual reality experiments

D'Orazio, Marco;Monni, Francesco
;
Chierico, Luigi;Bernardini, Gabriele;Quagliarini, Enrico
2025-01-01

Abstract

The fire safety of building occupants can be improved by dynamic Emergency Wayfinding Signage systems (EWSs), since they can optimize path selection tasks thanks to real-time data. In view of costs and complexities of real-world testing of dynamic EWSs, Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) can streamline their effectiveness assessments, increasing the number of reference scenarios and of involved participants. Nevertheless, the IVR reliability should be supported by cross-validation between real-world and IVR solutions. This work is aimed at comparing the effectiveness of a dynamic EWS in real-world and two IVR setups: a head-mounted display and a CAVE. The experiments involved 228 volunteers. The experiments investigated route selection on a real-world T-shaped layout, in a university building with and without simulated smoke and lighting. The effectiveness of a dynamic EWS was assessed using the Theory of Affordance. Differences in specific affordances exist between IVR and real-world tests. Nevertheless, the analysis of functional affordance (assessing the effectiveness of EWS in guiding occupants towards a safe area) shows that IVR tests provide similar results to real-world ones, by also not overestimating the EWS effectiveness. Differences among scenario conditions and CAVE or HMD tests were identified too. On the one hand, outcomes hence support outcomes of previous works, which remark that differences could be mainly due to the scenario brightness and to the level of immersion/presence in IVR. On the other hand, results encourage the use of IVR to actively contribute to preliminary behavioural-based design and testing of dynamic EWSs.
2025
978-88-5541-112-7
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11566/345096
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