Abstract
In up to 85% human error is the main reason for accidents in maritime transport. Situation Awareness (SA) is the primary cause of these errors. In most cases, insufficient SA can be deduced back to two facts: either there was too less or too much information available for the crew. This thesis jointly addresses the mutual neglect of spatial information distribution and temporal aspects of collaborative work in nowadays ship bridge design: With the proposed computer-supported method, spatio-temporal fitness of information supply and demand can be assessed for navigational situations during design time. The method is based on Distributed Situation Awareness Theory and consists of three steps, allowing for measurements of misfits between information supply and demand. The method is accompanied with three concepts, which are implemented in software. Method and concepts are evaluated in three hypothesis tests: Relations between SA, Work Space Layout and Collaborative Processes are revealed.