Review of 'The Impact of Digital Navigation on Travel Behaviour'

Open Peer Review by Dr Eleni Tracada ( ORCID: 0000-0002-0362-4260)

Article title: The Impact of Digital Navigation on Travel Behaviour

Authors: David Metz

DOI: 10.14324/111.444/000106.v1

The intention of the author(s) to focus on the impact of the digital navigation to the road users’ behaviour is clear throughout this article. It is commendable that the environmental and social impact are also discussed at several points briefly.  The article refers to important points that we have to consider before planning routes for road users, and it is good to consider the impact of individual choices to increased traffic in cities as well as in rural areas. In both cases, behaviours could be highly damaging to both humans and nature.

Although we can see references to several relevant sources, the authors say that there is lack of literature on the performance of digital navigation. Perhaps this is due to the lack of a meaningful interface to evaluate road users’ choices constantly via specific navigation systems, so that the road authorities should be able to make informed decisions on their strategies, too. In this case, feedback from research centres could have been asked constantly during ongoing national and international meetings, symposia, and conferences; more papers could have been published.

However, we may have to consider the impact of the pandemic which had an impact on most commuters. So, there will be a gap of knowledge until commuting traffic or other solutions in mobility are back. But climate change has got an impact to lifestyles, too. So, many more disciplines may need to cooperate with digital navigation providers. In the future, road users may use a combination of virtual reality preparation before they experience the real journey. So ‘nudging’ could be an enjoyable gaming experience, if we think that smart traffic is more than estimated arrival time; that means stepping out of the car and experience an active healthy living environment integrating green infrastructure and human mobility in a variety of ways.

It is good to see that high population density and car ownership in some cities may increase road traffic to both big traffic arteries and minor roads, when digital navigation refers to fastest routes especially. Therefore, it could be useful to show a couple of case study areas where this happens; it could be good to make recommendations at the end on how road users’ changes of behaviours in those areas not only could have a positive impact to them (physical and mental health), but also to their immediate surroundings. The paper flows well and shows clarity. Just few references related to examples of digital navigation in the light of autonomous vehicle (AV), driverless cars, could be useful; drivers and road users’ experiences could be very different soon, because freedom of choice could be almost prescribed to safeguard health and safety, and protect the environment, too.