Indoor Museum Navigation

WHO

WHAT

HOW

Museum Visitors/Enthusiasts

Intuitive & accurate indoor navigation

Using artworks as markers to map routes and update position

JUMP 

CONTEXT

The seed for this mini-project was planted midway through my Google UX course, where I was prompted to create an application for museum visitors to enhance their experience when visiting the museum.

As part of my research, I visited the National Gallery in Singapore and tried to simulate a new visitor experience by navigating my way around the gallery for Antony Gormley’s works.

PROBLEM

1. Artworks can be hard to spot and installations may also be in areas which are hard to find i.e suspended on the ceiling or above stairways.

2. Visual diagrams in brochures, though well drawn, are prone to misunderstandings, especially for first-time visitors to the museum.

3. Most companion apps have static maps of the museum. This is because using GPS for positional tracking does not work well in museums as they are mostly indoors.

ANTONY
GORMLEY

Source : Map & Brochure from National Gallery of Singapore

RESEARCH

A billion signposts: repurposing barcodes for indoor navigation

A research paper was published (dated 2014) on how a group of researchers created an application that allowed library visitors to scan a nearby book to provide a custom route to the location of a desired item.

This serves as the primary inspiration for my navigation application as there are many parallels between a library and a museum. Instead of books, artworks can also be used as a marker to facilitate indoor navigation.

Link to the paper

An interactive guide to The Louvre, all in a Nintendo 3DS.

In 2019, I visited The Louvre in Paris, France and I was pleasantly surprised when they offered me a Nintendo 3DS as an interactive guide to the museum. Other than serving as an audio guide and allowing users to view the exhibits using the 3D viewer, it also allows users to navigate to their designated location using "a system of beacons placed around the museum for precise location".

Source : The Louvre Replaces Old Boring Audio Tours With Nintendo 3DSes

Google Maps : AR Navigation

Google has implemented AR into Google Maps in the recent years and through my own usage of it, it tends to work better outdoors than indoors. However, the visual language that it uses can definitely be used in my project.

Link for more information on Google AR

PROCESS

1. User searches for an artwork in the museum.

2. User scans a nearby artwork for application to determine current position.

3. Application generates a route to desired artwork.

4. Along the way, the application will prompt the user to scan nearby artworks to update its position.

5. User reaches the position of the desired artwork with visual confirmation.

ISSUES

1. Large amount of foot traffic might impede user's ability to scan artwork. This could be mitigated by allowing alternative methods of scanning i.e QR Code.

2. Paintings might be moved or loaned out to other museums. Similarly new paintings might be added. Thus the positional database will require timely maintenance.

THOUGHTS

This side project is part of a larger body of work that is about elevating a visitors experience in the museum, which itself is part of a Google UX course assignment.

For the full project including all screens, feel free to reach out to me via my contact details in the homepage.

Though I am unable to test out the effectiveness of the hypothesis, I believe that existing results have proven the feasibility of similar applications.