Compass Navigation Pattern

1. Overview

Name

• Popular Name: Compass Navigation.
• Alternative Names: Multi-point Compass Navigation, Guiding Lights.

Intent

To present a user with several alternative destinations, and provide guidance on how to reach them, using a familiar metaphor (of a compass).

2. Target

Problem

A user is at a location and has several alternative locations that they could potentially move to (perhaps to trigger some event or interaction), but they do not know how many choices they have or how to reach them.

Context

• Situation: The user is holding a physical device with location sensing technology and a method of displaying information that is complex enough to indicate direction.
• Environment: The user needs to be in a relatively open space with few obstacles and simple paths between them and the destination.

Forces

The success of the pattern depends on:

• The simplicity of the paths.
• The number of obstacles (fewer is better).
• The sensitivity of the location technology.
• The affordance of the device display.
• The number of potential destinations (fewer is better).
• The desired complexity of the interface and interaction (suits a simpler approach).

Consequences

Weaknesses:

• W1 – Doesn’t communicate distance.
• W2 – Doesn’t provide information about choices.
• W3 – Doesn’t provide routing information.

Strengths:

• S1 – Simple to understand.
• S2 – Easy to use.
• S3 – Straightforward to implement.
• S4 – Robust to route changes/interference (no need to update over time).
• S5 – Can be translated into multiple representations and scales (for example, guiding lights around the edge of the whole screen).

3. Application

Solution

Sensitizer:

Participants: This is primarily designed for a single participant, although a larger display could be used by a group.

Breakdown:

Variations:

Rationale

A compass is a familiar metaphor that is easily and quickly understood by users.

Implementation Details

Suggestions:

Issues:

Pitfalls:

Impact on Immersion

Sensory Immersion:

• A compass navigation system supports the balance of attention as to successfully use it players have to attend to both the device and the real-world environment. It also introduces embodied interaction (through the physical manipulation of the device).

Cultural Immersion:

• Could be impacted by the aesthetics or functionality of the compass (enhanced if aligned with target cultures, detracts if misaligned).

Narrative Immersion:

• Could be impacted by the relationship of the metaphorical device (that the compass represents) to the narrative. If it makes narrative sense for the player to have access then it enhances, if not then it detracts.

Ludic Considerations

Using the compass to track down and find points could also be a ludic activity if there was an appropriate playful context, as players need to navigate the environment, whilst using the compass to figure out where the markers are pointing to in the real world. 
 
This will introduce a Searching or Finding Dynamic to a game.

Example

Avebury CS1 uses a compass as part of its Neolithic and Middle period navigation. In the Middle period the compass appears as an 18th century compass with markers around the outside and a free-floating North needle. In the Neolithic it appears as lights around the perimeter of the device (whose display has become a single rectangular rune stone). The lights are different colours in order to distinguish them. 
 
More information is available here.

4. Supplementary Information

Biography

Version 1.1 (4/2/25) – Refined in order to publish in the Open Technology Toolkit. David Millard (University of Southampton)
 
Version 1.0 (8/10/24) – Completed based on current Avebury Case Study 1 design documents. David Millard (University of Southampton)
Version 0.9 (2/10/24) – Initial draft developed as part of the LoGaProject WP6 investigation into design and interaction patterns. David Millard (University of Southampton)

Discussion

This is more of a missing affordance than a weakness, but as there is no map in this approach the user does not vicariously learn about their surroundings and only sees the features along the path that they choose.