Development of Intelligent Navigation Systems for Chinese Users 2008-01-0198

Navigation systems have been recently introduced into vehicles in China, one of the world's largest in-vehicle system markets in the next few years. However, existing Chinese navigation systems either simply translate the system language from other languages to Chinese or do not have intelligent functions which consider the characteristics of Chinese users, their language, or geographic features of mainland China.

To solve this problem, this study first reviewed the characteristics of Chinese language (textual part) including its visual (words orientation: horizontal vs. vertical), words simplification, and auditory formats (e.g., dialects) which are different from western languages. Second, characteristics of spatial cognition of Chinese users (spatial part) related to the design of intelligent navigation system are summarized, including preferences of different spatial reference frameworks of Chinese people who were born in different locations in China and their preferences in different direction guidance. Third, the geographic features of mainland China which are different from western countries are summarized. Fourth, a conceptual framework in designing intelligent Chinese navigation system based on the textual and spatial characteristics of Chinese language and Chinese users as well as China's geographic features is proposed. In addition, how to use intelligent algorithms to design the user interface in intelligent Chinese navigation systems (e.g., classify different Chinese populations and optimize the presentation formats of Chinese language) are also discussed.