In a virtual space interface, an effective
survey knowledge feature can give an individual a full picture of all the functions of an
interface and where they are placed within the interface. The advantage of having survey
knowledge lies in that it helps the user easily operate among various functions and
information routes without being limited to linear requirements. Yet when too much
information is shown at the one time, users may experience information processing
overload (Kitchin, 1997). Munzer et al. (2006) suggest that users incidentally learn only the
information which is encoded, transformed, and memorized during the primary
way-finding activity. Zhang (2008) demonstrates that users could improve their
navigation performances for tasks at different scale levels if they could couple spatial
knowledge and movement and move them easily across the scale. Henry and Polys (2012)
show that immersion and navigation techniques can affect a user’s acquisition of spatial
knowledge regarding abstract networks in an immersive virtual environment.