Castro, JohnJohnCastroMadrigal, GianinaGianinaMadrigalAstudillo, AgustínAgustínAstudillo2026-10-082026-10-082026Castro, John; Madrigal, Gianina; Astudillo, Agustín (2026). Visual Strategies in Mobile Navigation: Preliminary Eye Tracking Findings on Usability Barriers with Older Adults:. Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering, , 368-375. https://doi.org/10.5220/0014819700004015https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12740/24905The usability of mobile navigation applications is a critical area of study, particularly as older adults increasingly rely on these technologies for daily activities. Despite their widespread use, the specific interaction challenges faced by this demographic remain underexplored. This study presents preliminary findings on usability barriers in a widely used mobile navigation application, focusing on older adults' visual attention patterns. Using a controlled laboratory setup with a Tobii Pro Spark eye tracker, the study analyzed gaze behavior in older adults (aged 60-79) during a location-retrieval task. Preliminary results reveal significant discrepancies between the application’s intended workflow and older adults' actual cognitive strategies. Quantitative metrics indicate a prevalent "map-first" mental model, in which participants prioritized manual map exploration over using textual search bars to avoid input interactions. Furthermore, contrary to the assumption that decorative elements distract users, fixation data suggest that façade imagery served a functional role as a "safety anchor," allowing users to visually verify destinations, thereby mitigating error aversion. These findings underscore the need for software engineering approaches that move beyond standard efficiency heuristics and instead prioritize compensatory interface designs—such as redundant visual verification and map-centric navigation—to accommodate the unique cognitive processing of older adults.http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Technology Use by Older AdultsGaze Tracking and Assistive TechnologyUsability and User Interface DesignConference Paperhttps://doi.org/10.5220/0014819700004015