UMass Researchers Aim to Make Your
Trip to the Airport a Little Easier

Collaboration with MassPort involves driving through virtual Logan

AMHERST, Mass. - Donald Fisher wants to make finding your terminal at Logan International Airport easier. Fisher, an engineer at the University of Massachusetts, heads up the team that has created a virtual "Loganscape." The computer-generated roadway enables researchers to change the airport's signage and assess whether those changes are  helpful - all without touching metal or pouring concrete. MassPort is funding the study, which is in its second year.

At the real Logan Airport, drivers are guided by a series of four signs, which list up to 18 airlines. These signs are placed within about 400 feet of each other, Fisher said.  Drivers must scan each sign for the name of their airline. If they find their airline name, then they must next look in the upper left hand corner of the sign for the letter that identifies the terminal at which their airline is located (Terminals A, B, C, D and E). The trouble is, many people don't have enough time to scan the sign, particularly in stressful driving conditions where their attention (and eyes) are on the cars ahead. "If you're unfamiliar with the airport, it's difficult to read the entire sign in the brief time available," said Fisher, of the mechanical and industrial engineering department.

And at Logan, highway expansion is not an immediate solution: "We're not in an area where we can simply add more roadway and space the signs out farther," Fisher pointed out. "Drivers would wind up in the bay or on the runway."

The ultimate goal is getting information to drivers more efficiently, but without increasing the number of signs, or the distance between them. To test alternative signs, the lab features a driving simulator, a sedan which faces a movie screen, and can be "driven" along virtual highways and byways while an eyetracker and a computer keep track of the driver's eye movements and driving choices. And although results are tested in a driving simulator, researchers are keeping an eye toward real-life concerns, such as drivers who might be lost or late. "We aren't aiming to simulate the driving experience of someone who has all the time in the world," noted Fisher, head of the University's Human Performance Lab. "We're thinking of the driver who has kids in the back seat or is driving in fairly heavy traffic."

With so little room for changes to the format of the signs themselves or their location, it has been challenging coming up with alternative designs. One solution, Fisher suggests, is modifying the existing signs to list the correct terminal's letter beside each airline's name rather than just in the upper left-hand corner. "This can reduce the time it takes a driver to find his or her terminal letter by up to half a second, enough time for many drivers to find their terminal."  In fact, "drivers" in the lab identified their terminal much faster using the modified sign than the current sign. "They're more likely to get the information because they didn't have to move their eyes to the upper left-hand corner," said Fisher.

Another possible solution would be to tell drivers as they approach the airport that the airline names are listed alphabetically on each sign. Most individuals, when asked, will say that the airline names must be listed alphabetically. However, they do not behave that way. Experiments in the lab indicate that drivers told that the airlines are listed alphabetically find their terminal much more quickly than drivers who are not told that such is the case.

The Logan project is a collaboration with Paul Shuldiner and Kitty Hancock, of civil and environmental engineering, and Susan Duffy, of psychology. Other research in the lab has centered on the safety of voice-activated car phones and the effectiveness of a specialized CD-ROM to help teen-agers gain driving experience without the risk of being on the road.

"The trick is to set your roadway signs up in cyberspace, rather than concrete, and see whether you've actually solved the problem," said Fisher. "It makes all the difference in the world if you catch your plane when a loved one is sick or a vacation awaits you at the end of the flight." 

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NOTE: Donald Fisher can be reached at 413/545-1657 ormailto:fisher@ecs.umass.edu.

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