Efficient Wayfinding in Hierarchically Regionalized Spatial Environments

Humans utilize region-based hierarchical representations in the context of navigation. We propose a computational model for representing region hierarchies and define criteria for automatically generating them. We devise a cognitively plausible online wayfinding algorithm exploiting the hierarchical decomposition given by regions. The algorithm allows an agent to derive plans with decreasing detail level along paths, enabling the agent to obtain the next action in logarithmic time and complete solutions in almost linear time. The resulting paths are reasonable approximations of optimal shortest paths.