An Overview of Technologies and Tools Using Eye Tracking in the Research of Architecture and Urban Spaces

The use of eye tracking technology in architectural research is innovative and allows for experiments to be conducted in the field of perception of the built environment in various aspects and scales. Designers are interested in improving the quality of proposed solutions in the field of interior design, wayfinding, and perception of the urban environment. The researcher wants to obtain measurable results that can indicate the direction of development of the proposed concepts based on the evaluation of existing solutions as well as those in the design phase. In order to effectively carry out experiments using the described technology, it is necessary to be familiar with the available research tools, techniques for conducting experiments, and the interpretation of results and their implementation in subsequent iterations of experiments or project implementations. Therefore, the author decided to prepare a review article on available technologies and research tools supported by eye tracking technology and its implementation in research in the field of architecture and urban planning. His own experience with attempts to use the tool made available for research in the form of THE EYE TRIBE with proprietary software written by professor Paweł Kasprowski (SUT-Department of Applied Computer Science, Faculty of Automation, Electronics and Computer Science), became a pretext for seeking answers to questions concerning the diversity of eye movement recorders available on the market and their integration with software for processing and interpreting observation data. The questions raised in the article concern the cost of purchasing the system, its ease of use, and the level of integration with popular virtual environment modeling tools used to simulate spaces designed by architects and researchers of built environment perception. The fundamental issue from the researcher's point of view is whether it is possible to design and launch a research station without specialist knowledge in disciplines other than the leading ones (architecture and urban planning). If not, who should be involved in the research team in order to achieve the expected results? The final conclusions include a description of the difficulties associated with the use of the tools described and recommendations on how to organize the process of preparing and conducting experiments/research.