Perception and Recall of Landmarks for Personal Navigation in Nature at Night Versus Day

Wayfinding at night in nature is challenging due to limited lighting and a low number of clearly identifiable landmarks. However, several activities in nature involve wayfinding at night, such as rescue services or hiking, but only a few human navigation studies have addressed these conditions. In the present study, we investigate the effects of night on the perception and recall of landmarks along a nature trail using the thinking-aloud and sketch map methods. The results reveal significant differences in the perception between day and night, which mainly originated from a restricted vista at night. In contrast, the landmark recall did not differ between day and night according to the sketch maps, which reflects uniform conceptualisation of the route in both times of day. The observed differences in the perception of landmarks may be applied to the adaptation of geospatial navigation applications that provide real-time wayfinding support, such as interactive maps and navigators, according to the day and night conditions.