Assessment of map users’ search strategies using multi-package softwares for scanpath analysis
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Deeb, R.; 2Ooms, K.; 3Popelka, S.; 4Van Eetvelde, V.; 5de Maeyer, P.
1GHENT UNIVERSITY Email: rasha.deeb@ugent.be
2GHENT UNIVERSITY Email: kristien.ooms@ugent.be
3PALACKÝ UNIVERSITY Email: stanislav.popelka@upol.cz
4GHENT UNIVERSITY Email: veerle.vaneetvelde@ugent.be
5GHENT UNIVERSITY Email: philippe.demaeyer@ugent.be.
Abstract
The eye tracking data proved to be a trustworthy data to asses map usability issues. As both the eye tracking quantitative and qualitative data were used to analyse different applications. This paper describes a user study in which users’ had to locate a target label. Map users’ search strategies were recorded by SMI Eye tracking device. The study combined multiple package open source softwares that can analyze the sequences of the users’ scanpaths by comparing strings. The map was divided into several Areas Of Interest (AOI) to which a letter-code was assigned. The resulting strings (subsequent letter-codes of AOIs that were fixated) can be used to define the similarity of the scanpaths. The software packages OGAMA and EyePatterns were used to visualize and analyze the users’ search patterns. Different characteristics of the users (expertise, gender) were taken into account during the analyses. Substantial qualitative data analyses were provided by the combination of these softwares’ applications. Besides, a number of search patterns were presented. This work demonstrates the use of multiple software packages for scanpaths analysis.
Keywords
Eye tracking; sequence analysis; cognition