ABSTRACT
Scientists investigating the processing of route directions from a user-oriented perspective have gathered some valuable information in recent years. First, their studies have provided evidence of the prevalence of landmark-based information in this type of discourse. More specifically, landmarks are more likely to be included in route directions when they are in the vicinity of critical nodes. This feature reflects the fact that people tend to refer to landmarks more frequently for the parts of the route where special difficulty or ambiguity will be encountered. Good describers generally have a clear grasp of the potential difficulties facing the pedestrians. Descriptive components of route directions are crucial to allow pedestrians to anticipate local difficulties when finding their way. The chapter highlights a significant feature of route directions and provides navigational services for people in urban environments.
