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Capturing VisitorExperiences for Study andPreservation
Georgina [email protected]'s College London
Stuart [email protected]'s College London
Nicolas [email protected]'s College London
The Courtauld Gallery occupies a uniqueposition in central London as a university artmuseum and key facilitator for collaborativeopportunities between research academics andcuratorial practitioners. Given the context ofthe gallery as an institution housed within abuilding not purpose-built for the function ofexhibition, the ways in which the gallery spaceacts as a directive on visitors’ viewing patternsis of particular interest. This paper introducesa methodology of documenting and visualizingthose patterns.
The research is approached from the perspectiveof a performance specialist (Guy), investigatingthe curated gallery as a place for performanceand the visitors’ role within such exhibitionspaces. This has led to the generationof questions vital to new methodologicalapproaches for exploring data only existent inthe form of events, and to future processes ofgallery operation and evaluation.
This paper focuses on the empirical aspects ofthis work, reporting on a project to create digitalobjects, displayable in Virtual World platformssuch as Google Earth, from the experienceof visitors to the Courtauld Gallery, London.The digital objects consist of visualisations invirtual space and time of visitor experiences,documented in KML, and represented using theGoogle Earth platform.
1. Studying Visitor ExperiencesTo date, the evaluation of exhibitions haslargely been based on attendance numbers,with very little attention given to actualvisitor behaviours within gallery environments.Traditionally, where visitor behaviours havebeen observed, methods for achieving thishave been based on pen and paper recordingusing methods such as those developed bySpace Syntax (Space Syntax, 2010). Capturingthis data in digital form will allow a morethorough and formal analysis of the ‘success’ ofexhibitions by permitting the replay in both timeand virtual space of visitors’ behaviours andtheir interaction with staff, other visitors, andgallery exhibition materials. More specifically,we are concerned with:
- patterns of movement within gallery spaces
- specific pathways constructed by individualvisitors through the museum
- duration of engagement with individualexhibits
- actions and interactions of gallery visitors
This information makes possible an analysisof how visitors explore exhibitions that isnot preconceived but observed. Anonymousrepresentations of visitor behaviours canbe offered back to the gallery promptingcuratorial assumptions to be validated or, whereappropriate, reconsidered in light of evidentialdata about real patterns of visitor behaviour.This, in turn, can have important implicationsfor maximizing public engagement withinexhibition contexts and ensuring efficiencyof interaction between staff and visitors, aswell as other aspects of social and economicexchange. Using geovisualization techniquesto generate the interactive maps based onindividual experience raises questions abouthow possible it is to produce and manage thedocumentation of human behaviour.
2. Technological andMethodological IssuesIdeally, visitors would be totally oblivious tothe data capture process or at least, suchtechnological means as are necessary forcapture would be non-intrusive. The demandsof the research problem require high fidelity of
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location, orientation, and behaviour making thetechnological issues more complex than simplydetermining approximate location. Borriello etal. (2005) report that GPS systems do not workreliably inside buildings, wi-fi systems requirecalibration and achieve accuracy of only about3 metres, and others require infrastructureinstallation. This is rarely possible in protectedbuildings such as the Courtauld, especiallyon a temporary basis. Consequently, themethod described below was developed (relatedapproaches will be discussed in presentation).
A pilot study was carried out prior to the mainobservation period in the Courtauld’s FrankAuerbach exhibition (Courtauld Gallery, 2009).
3. Data Capture MethodThe method used is predominantly basedon field observation in two forms. Theseapproaches are influenced by the observationmethods used by Space Syntax, a company withan established history of evidence-based designand evaluation for buildings and urban spaces.Space Syntax observations are undertaken usingpen and paper.
The first method involves a human observertracking the movement pattern of visitorsaround parts of the gallery in order to observeparticularized routes specific to individualvisitors. This is facilitated by the use of TabletPCs and custom-developed software whichdisplays an editable floor plan of the gallery,divided into map tiles based on the galleryrooms. In the case of the Courtauld, the maptiles are 610x365 pixels. The actual room sizein the pilot is approximately 1290.5cm x 772cm= 12.9x7.7m. By moving the digital pen aroundthe image the pathway of an individual canbe recorded on the map and the movementdocumented with an x,y pixel reference and atimestamp. Duration and location are recordedboth when the visitor is moving and stationary.Additional coding concerning, for example,the activity undertaken at any given moment,such looking at a map or signage or taking aphotograph, can also be coded against points oneach pathway.
The second method involves participants beingasked to complete an exit questionnairedetailing their familiarity with the specificgallery and exhibits as well as more general
experience of exhibition environments. Thisinformation is cross-referenced to the trace ofeach visitor’s pathways.
A screenshot from the software can be seenin Figure 1, showing a gallery floorplan with apartial trace. Figure 2 shows the simple commaseparated values (CSV) data produced by thetrace activity in realtime (the fields being X, Y,timestamp, visitor activity, and map file used).The system defaults to tracking movement asthe pen is drawn across the screen, however, theobserver can simply switch the “mode” of thecurrent point by selecting one of the buttons tothe right. Where data about interaction with anexhibit is necessary, the point of the observee’sinterest can be noted by simply pointing atit on the diagram after selecting either “Sign”or “Exhibit” as the object of interest. Thefinal system was developed in Borland TurboDelphi with early prototyping undertaken inProcessing.
For the Courtauld case study, the maps arescaled such that 1 pixel is approximately 2cm2of real gallery space. The maps are convertedfrom architectural plans and the location andsize of furniture in the gallery included frommeasurement in the galleries themselves. Visitorlocation is recorded as a relative pixel positionfrom the top left corner of the image. Aftercapture this data can be transformed to generatereal visitor positions in the room for subsequentvisualisation.
Figure 1: Screenshot from Data Capture Application
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Figure 2: Extract from CSV data file
3.1. Visualisation of Results
The relative positional information in the CSVfile(s) is converted to absolute positions andstored in KML. The timestamp stream thatindicates where a visitor was at a given time canbe used to generate a trace of movement (andspeed).
For the purposes of the visualization, thefloorspace of the Auerbach, as defined bythe map tiles in the data capture software,was rotated from its SE-NW alignment (seeFigure 3). This was necessary to facilitate thegeoreferencing, or conversion of the x,y pixeldata points into decimal degree coordinates. Itwas therefore possible to make the observationthat the gallery room equated to 0.000118 x0.000027 decimal degrees. The pixel readings(r)_ can therefore be converted to decimaldegrees (d) using the simple conversionformula d=W. longitude – (0.000118/610)*r.For the latitude readings, this is repeated,but substituting (0.000027/325). An arbitraryaltitude value, starting at 0.001 at the firstreading, and increasing sequentially by 0.001throughout the CSV dataset was added tothe datapoints. In the visualization (seeFigure 4), this gives the impression of thepathway rising as the visitor progresses throughthe gallery and through time: in this, itfollows the principle of the ‘space time cube’,developed elsewhere (Kraak, 2008). As moredata is added, this will allow us to build
complex structured visualizations, which willadd significant support to interpreting thevisitors’ uses of, and interactions with, thespace. These will be reported in full in the fullpresentation of this paper.
3.2. Conclusion
At the time of writing, the technology platformsare fully developed, ready for use and have beentested (with subsequent enhancement) in a pilotsession in the gallery. The main observationswill take place in November and December 2009during the Courtauld Gallery’s exhibition ofFrank Auerbach: London Building Sites 1952–62.
This paper has presented an approach tocapturing visitor experience and interactions ina gallery using methods based on tried andtested approaches, but augmented by digitaltools. The data generated can subsequentlybe visualised in virtual space and time toallow questions of performance practice to beaddressed.
Figure 3: The Auerbach gallery in Google Earth, and thearea of the map tile on which the trace was taken, aligned
on a N-S bearing. (© 2009 Google, Image © 2009 Bluesky)
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Figure 4. Representation of visitor pathwayfrom the pilot study in ‘space time cube’ format,
represented in Google Earth. (© 2008 Google, MapData © 2009 Tele Atlas, Image © 2009 Bluesky)
ReferencesBoriello, G., Chalmers, M., LaMarca,A., Nixon, P. (2005). 'DeliveringReal-World Ubiquitous Location Systems'.Communications of the ACM. 48(3): 36-41.
Courtauld Gallery. 2009. http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/2009/auerbach/
index.shtml (accessed 3rd March 2010).
Kraak, M.-J. (2008). 'Geovisualization andTime - New Opportunities for the Space-TimeCube'. Geographic Visualization: Concepts,Tools and Applications. Dodge, M., McDerby,M., Turner. M. (eds.). London: Wiley.
Space Syntax. 2010. http://www.spacesyntax.com (accessed 3rd March 2010).
