Development of Empowered SPIDAR-Tablet and Evaluation of a System Presenting Geographical Information Using it

Nowadays, there are many opportunities to see maps on smartphones and tablet devices. The maps we use every day have no information about the slope, and we don’t know if a road is uphill or downhill. In particular, in hazard maps that map the predicted damage caused by natural disasters and the extent of the damage, slope information is important for understanding which route to follow during evacuation. Therefore, we thought that it is possible to grasp the inclination information when tracing the road by feeding back the force sense to the touch panel operation. In order to present the force sense on tablet devices, we employed SPIDAR-tablet. In our previous research, this device had a weak force sensation. Therefore, in this study, we strengthened the force by replacing the motor and rebuilding the frame. In addition, we have developed a new map application that can output the slope information of the traced road as an easy-to-understand force sense. Then, using this application, we conducted an evaluation experiment of the effectiveness of presenting the inclination angle of the road by force. As a result of this experiment, it was found that the difference in the inclination angle of the road could be detected by force. As a future perspective, we would like to present more disaster information to the hazard map by adding not only force information but also sound and temperature.