Study in a Virtual Night Environment of the Influence of the Travel Mode on the Observation Angle of Illuminated Road Surfaces

ABSTRACT

We present a study of the influence of the travel modality (pedestrian, cyclist, motorist) on the observation angle of road surfaces in a nighttime situation under public lighting. This study is based on the simulation of an urban environment where the user travels at different speeds (6, 12 and 25 km/h) depending on the travel mode studied. An interurban main road, where the user travels at 75 km/h, is also simulated to approximate the observation geometry associated with public lighting standards. The results obtained show that the angle of observation of a user varies according to his mode of locomotion. As the speed of travel increases, the observer looks further away. Moreover, the distribution of observation angles is not the same according to the mode of travel. The slower one moves, the greater the spatial extent covered by the visual fixations. These results are likely to encourage current investigations in the field of public lighting. They aim to redefine the geometries of users’ observations according to their mode of travel and the expected functionalities of urban nighttime developments. Beyond that, these results also contribute to the understanding of visual perception in a virtual environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Virtual environment
• road lighting
• travel mode
• observation angle
• eye-tracking

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Plateforme Angevine d’Analyse des Comportements for the loan of the simulation equipment and especially Florian FOCONE for his help and expertise in setting up the experiment and simulating the virtual environment. We also thank Amélie Bret, Nathan Portier and Kévin Rolland, students at Polytech’Angers, for the development of the virtual environment. Finally, we would like to thank all the participants who kindly gave us their time.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.