Establishment and Saliency Verification of a Visual Translation Method for Cultural Elements of High-Speed Railways: A Case Study of the BZ Railway Line

Abstract

The high-speed railway station symbol system, generated from regional culture translations, not only improves transfer efficiency but also reveals the area’s unique urban cultural context. In this study, we used an eye-tracking technique and virtual reality technology to examine the visual cognitive preferences of the existing cultural translation method used by the Beijing–Zhangjiakou high-speed railway. Then, considering the design and layout of the existing station symbol system, we analyzed the visual saliency of different elements such as images, words, and symbols in three types of spaces in the Taizicheng high-speed railway station. The experiment site was located in the physical laboratory of the School of Architecture and Design at Beijing Jiaotong University. A total of 94 students from different majors were selected to participate in the experiment, with 92 datapoints eventually being deemed valid. The experiment data showed the following. First, the overall significance ranking of three scenes in the Taizicheng station was: S1 (81.10%) > S2 (64.57%) > S3 (49.57%). The cognitive correctness rankings of the number positions of the three scenes were: S1: 5 > 2 > 3 > 1 = 4; S2: 4 > 2 > 3 > 1 > 5; S3: 1 > 3 > 2 > 5 > 4. Second, the significance ranking of the transliteration element in S1 was: Images > Words > Sculptures > Patterns > Colors; S2 was: Patterns > Colors > Words > Images > Sculptures; and S3 was: Colors > Images > Words > Patterns > Sculptures. The results underscore the validity of the Beijing–Zhangjiakou cultural translation and offer a reference for station layout and spatial optimization. Finally, they provide new ideas for the design and layout of station symbol systems.