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To the North Coast of Devon: Collaborative Navigation While Exploring Unfamiliar TerrainNavigation-knowing where one is and finding a safe route-is a fundamental aspect of all exploration. In unfamiliar terrain, one may use maps and instruments such as a compass or binoculars to assist, and people often collaborate in finding their way. This paper analyzes a group of people driving a humvee from a base camp to the north coast of Devon Island in the High Canadian Arctic. A complete audio recording and video during most stops allows a quantitative and semantic analysis of the conversations when the team stopped to take bearings and replan a route. Over a period of 2 hours, the humvee stopped 20 times, with an average duration of 3.15 min/pause and 3.85 min moving forward. The team failed to reach its goal due to difficult terrain causing mechanical problems. The analysis attempts to explain these facts by considering a variety of complicating factors, especially the navigation problem of relating maps and the world to locate the humvee and to plan a route. The analysis reveals patterns in topic structure and turn-taking, supporting the view that the collaboration was efficient, but the tools and information were inadequate for the task. This work is relevant for planning and training for planetary surface missions, as well as developing computer systems that could aid navigation.
Document ID
20060021526
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Clancey, William J.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Lee, Pascal
(Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Inst. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Cockell, Charles S.
(Open Univ. Milton Keynes, United Kingdom)
Braham, Stephen
(Simon Fraser Univ. Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada)
Shafto, Mike
(NASA Headquarters Washington, DC United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 5, 2006
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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