First Steps toward Voice User Interfaces for Web-Based Navigation of Geographic Information: A Spanish Terms Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
3.1. Identifying the Words to Command Maps
3.2. Identifying the Chain of Commands Used
3.2.1. Wizard of Oz Experiment
3.2.2. Prototype Creation and Validation
4. Discussion
- Me in the world. The user locates themself in the world represented by the system, maybe flying. They use expressions such as “go to the north, to the west”, “get me closer”, and “move me”.
- Me on the street. The user imagines themself walking on the ground. They use expressions like “turn right”, “move away”, “go straight ahead”, and “how to go to”.
- Me in front of a screen. The user sees the system as a system and does not try to interact naturally but tries to find out how to provoke the desired response. The user interprets the system as an interactive map (“move it”), and the most differentiating factor is that they use languages learned from other systems. This may happen for the following reasons. The user is very connected to the mobile web, app, etc. They use expressions such as “back” (referring to a previous screen or back button), “reverse zoom”, or, in the case of a user who directed the cursor orthogonally, “up-up-right-right-up-up” to traverse a diagonal. Another possible reason derives from a subgroup of users with a technical profile, e.g., geographers, computer scientists, and engineers, that prompts them to speak to the system in a programming language or with technical words (e.g., “scroll” or “pan”). In these cases, the user adopts non-conjugated and non-personalized expressions.
- Voice recognition improvement. The recognition of the moment the user initiates the instruction is crucial. Currently this is solved with the keywords the user must say before verbalizing the request, e.g., the assistant’s name. In addition, the transitions between instructions require enhancement. Another issue is the understanding of phonetically similar words. For example, the user says mueve (“move”), and the system might interpret it as nueve (“nine”). This is understandable and can perhaps be solved by limiting the vocabulary the system recognizes. Most speech recognizers use all the vocabulary of the language in which they are executed, and many misunderstandings occur with words that are not used in the GIS context. When similar words are necessary for a certain context, as in a GIS (e.g., mueve and nueve), a feasible solution is to improve the voice recognition software. Finally, the recognition software can be enhanced to achieve comfortable use without requiring loud voice commands (e.g., when outdoors). In addition, we recommend using high-quality microphones, such as the ones used in our experiments.
- Toponym problem. Most words and speech recognizers use the vocabulary of the language being spoken. The problem is that toponyms do not always belong to that language. Some have several accepted pronunciations, and users pronounce them differently, whether accepted or not. Therefore, a speech recognizer capable of detecting the correct toponym being pronounced and selecting the appropriate one from the endless list of possible toponyms is a challenge to design.
- Persistence of the context. In the developed prototype, if a user asks the map to move to the right, the system moves it to the right a certain distance, and if the user makes the same request again, the map moves that same distance. To improve the user experience significantly, the context can be addressed such that if the user asks to move to the right and then says “further” or “further to the right,” the map moves a distance larger than the first. In other words, the system can respond according to prior commands. Context persistence and machine learning can also teach the system iteratively based on the user’s pronunciation and vocabulary. As a result, the product can better adapt to the range of possible users (considering pronunciation and the different user profiles previously mentioned), improving the user experience.
- More user studies. Additional user studies should be conducted to observe the behavior and attitudes of the different profiles in different place-onas. The groups at risk of isolation in the spoken interaction paradigm should also be considered. Specifically, we need to address the specific difficulties faced by people with social communication disorders, such as dyslalia, dysphemia, dysarthria, and dysglossia, and to what extent they can make use of speech recognition standards. Similarly, for people with aphasia or cognitive disabilities, specific solutions can allow them to access these systems. Finally, the vocabulary and interaction of children and the elderly with GISs should be studied.
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
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Step | Objective | Method | No. of Samples n |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Identify terminological corpus. | Survey. | 137 |
2 | Identify the chain of commands. User behavior and acceptance. | Wizard of Oz. Interviews. | 10 |
3 | Expert testing before user test. Validate prototype functionality. | Cognitive walkthrough + heuristics. | 3 |
Create technology for VUI as a first approach.Validate results obtained in previous steps. | Prototype + user testing. Interviews. | 8 | |
4 | Emerging issues (transversal). | Triangulation of methods. | |
158 (total) |
Scenario Description | Planned Errors | Planned Searches for the Wizard |
---|---|---|
Your Aunt Lisa is on a business trip to Sri Lanka and you would like to know about the island. Locate the island and research the capital city (Colombo) and national parks. | The difficulty of pronouncing the name of the island. | Colombo, Kandy, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Galle, Srilanka, Sri Lanka, India, Asia |
You are looking for a park in Paris to have a picnic. It is summer, and you want a place with plenty of trees and shade. Compare the leafiness of the parks using satellite images. | If you look for parque París (Paris park) in Google Maps from an IP in Spain, the first answer is Paris Park in Madrid. | París, París Francia, Parque París, París parque, Parque, Bois de Bolougne, Bois de Vincennes |
You have an appointment with a friend on the first roundabout of the city of Vitoria (Spain), arriving via highway A-132. Look for this point on the map to learn how to get there. | The command rotonda en Vitoria (roundabout in Vitoria) sends users to a street with Vitoria in its name (depending on the geographic context of the user). The command rotonda A-132 shows only the road. | Vitoria, A132, A132 Vitoria, Vitoria A132 |
You have to carry a package from the Grancasa shopping center in Zaragoza to Pilar Square. Find the pedestrian route without using the routing functionality provided by Google Maps. | You need to zoom in to see the names of the streets. | Grancasa, Centro Comercial Grancasa, CC Grancasa, Calle Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Calle Gómez de Avellaneda, Gómez de Avellaneda, Calle María Zambrano, María Zambrano |
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Blanco, T.; Martín-Segura, S.; de Larrinzar, J.L.; Béjar, R.; Zarazaga-Soria, F.J. First Steps toward Voice User Interfaces for Web-Based Navigation of Geographic Information: A Spanish Terms Study. Appl. Sci. 2023, 13, 2083. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13042083
Blanco T, Martín-Segura S, de Larrinzar JL, Béjar R, Zarazaga-Soria FJ. First Steps toward Voice User Interfaces for Web-Based Navigation of Geographic Information: A Spanish Terms Study. Applied Sciences. 2023; 13(4):2083. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13042083
Chicago/Turabian StyleBlanco, Teresa, Sergio Martín-Segura, Juan López de Larrinzar, Rubén Béjar, and Francisco Javier Zarazaga-Soria. 2023. "First Steps toward Voice User Interfaces for Web-Based Navigation of Geographic Information: A Spanish Terms Study" Applied Sciences 13, no. 4: 2083. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13042083
APA StyleBlanco, T., Martín-Segura, S., de Larrinzar, J. L., Béjar, R., & Zarazaga-Soria, F. J. (2023). First Steps toward Voice User Interfaces for Web-Based Navigation of Geographic Information: A Spanish Terms Study. Applied Sciences, 13(4), 2083. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13042083