Evacuation Plans that Work^TM

I was looking at an evacuation plan the other day. It had a blueprint-style map of the floor I was on, complete with a marker for my current position, and some arrows showing evacuation routes. I tried to imagine using this map to exit the building, and then realized that it would take me a little while to get properly oriented, and that I could very easily get lost. Especially if I were in a hurry because of, you know, approaching flames or something crazy like that happening right there in the middle of an evacuation.

I noticed that most of the problem was due to the fact that the diagram was not oriented in real space in the same way as the building. Clearly, an evacuation map where "left" on the map corresponded to "left" in the real world, would be considerably less likely to introduce confusion. Taking the question of mental translation one step further, I thought that it would be even better if the diagram were a 3-D perspective drawing. Imagine looking down into a dollhouse with the roof removed, from and angle - and then turning that into a line drawing. Such a picture would almost instantly convey the proper direction for the exit, as well as the visual landmarks that one should find on the way (corners, elevators, bathrooms, etc.)

What's the point of having these plans if they are confusing to people who are actually trying to evacuate?