Three levels of metric for evaluating wayfinding

Three levels of virtual environment (VE) metric are proposed, based on: (1) users’ task performance (time taken, distance traveled and number of errors made), (2) physical behavior (locomotion, looking around, and time and error classification), and (3) decision making (i.e., cognitive) rationale (think aloud, interview and questionnaire). Examples of the use of these metrics are drawn from a detailed review of research into VE wayfinding. A case study from research into the fidelity that is required for efficient VE wayfinding is presented, showing the unsuitability in some circumstances of common metrics of task performance such as time and distance, and the benefits to be gained by making fine-grained analyses of users’ behavior. Taken as a whole, the article highlights the range of techniques that have been successfully used to evaluate wayfinding and explains in detail how some of these techniques may be applied

Design and Evaluation of a Real-World Virtual Environment for Architecture and Urban Planning

International audienceIn this paper we present a user-centered design approach to the development of a Virtual Environment (VE), by utilizing an iterative, user-informed process throughout the entire design and development cycle. A preliminary survey was first undertaken with end users, that is, architects, chief engineers, and decision makers of a real-world architectural and urban planning project, followed by a study of the traditional workflow employed. We then determined the elements required to make the VE useful in the real-world setting, choosing appropriate graphical and auditory techniques to develop audiovisual VEs with a high level of realism. Our user-centered design approach guided the development of an appropriate interface and an evaluation methodology to test the overall usability of the system. The VE was evaluated both in the laboratory and, most importantly, in the users' natural work environments. In this study we present the choices we made as part of the design and evaluation methodologies employed, which successfully combined research goals with those of a real-world project. Among other results, this evaluation suggests that involving users and designers from the beginning improves the effectiveness of the VE in the context of the real world urban planning project. Furthermore, it demonstrates that appropriate levels of realism, in particular spatialized 3D sound, high-detail vegetation, and shadows, as well as the presence of rendered crowds, are significant for the design process and for communicating about designs; they enable better appreciation of overall ambience of the VE, perception of space and physical objects, as well as the sense of scale. We believe this study is of interest to VE researchers, designers, and practitioners, as well as professionals interested in using VR in their workplace

Training Wayfinding: Natural Movement In Mixed Reality

The Army needs a distributed training environment that can be accessed whenever and wherever required for training and mission rehearsal. This paper describes an exploratory experiment designed to investigate the effectiveness of a prototype of such a system in training a navigation task. A wearable computer, acoustic tracking system, and see-through head mounted display (HMD) were used to wirelessly track users\u27 head position and orientation while presenting a graphic representation of their virtual surroundings, through which the user walked using natural movement. As previous studies have shown that virtual environments can be used to train navigation, the ability to add natural movement to a type of virtual environment may enhance that training, based on the proprioceptive feedback gained by walking through the environment. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: route drawing on printed floor plan, rehearsal in the actual facility, and rehearsal in a mixed reality (MR) environment. Participants, divided equally between male and female in each group, studied verbal directions of route, then performed three rehearsals of the route, with those in the map condition drawing it onto three separate printed floor plans, those in the practice condition walking through the actual facility, and participants in the MR condition walking through a three dimensional virtual environment, with landmarks, waypoints and virtual footprints. A scaling factor was used, with each step in the MR environment equal to three steps in the real environment, with the MR environment also broken into tiles , like pages in an atlas, through which participant progressed, entering each tile in succession until they completed the entire route. Transfer of training testing that consisted of a timed traversal of the route through the actual facility showed a significant difference in route knowledge based on the total time to complete the route, and the number of errors committed while doing so, with walkers performing better than participants in the paper map or MR condition, although the effect was weak. Survey knowledge showed little difference among the three rehearsal conditions. Three standardized tests of spatial abilities did not correlate with route traversal time, or errors, or with 3 of the 4 orientation localization tasks. Within the MR rehearsal condition there was a clear performance improvement over the three rehearsal trials as measured by the time required to complete the route in the MR environment which was accepted as an indication that learning occurred. As measured using the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire, there were no incidents of simulator sickness in the MR environment. Rehearsal in the actual facility was the most effective training condition; however, it is often not an acceptable form of rehearsal given an inaccessible or hostile environment. Performance between participants in the other two conditions were indistinguishable, pointing toward continued experimentation that should include the combined effect of paper map rehearsal with mixed reality, especially as it is likely to be the more realistic case for mission rehearsal, since there is no indication that maps should be eliminated. To walk through the environment beforehand can enhance the Soldiers\u27 understanding of their surroundings, as was evident through the comments from participants as they moved from MR to the actual space: This looks like I was just here , and There\u27s that pole I kept having trouble with . Such comments lead one to believe that this is a tool to continue to explore and apply. While additional research on the scaling and tiling factors is likely warranted, to determine if the effect can be applied to other environments or tasks, it should be pointed out that this is not a new task for most adults who have interacted with maps, where a scaling factor of 1 to 15,000 is common in orienteering maps, and 1 to 25,000 in military maps. Rehearsal time spent in the MR condition varied widely, some of which could be blamed on an issue referred to as avatar excursions , a system anomaly that should be addressed in future research. The proprioceptive feedback in MR was expected to positively impact performance scores. It is very likely that proprioceptive feedback is what led to the lack of simulator sickness among these participants. The design of the HMD may have aided in the minimal reported symptoms as it allowed participants some peripheral vision that provided orientation cues as to their body position and movement. Future research might include a direct comparison between this MR, and a virtual environment system through which users move by manipulating an input device such as a mouse or joystick, while physically remaining stationary. The exploration and confirmation of the training capabilities of MR as is an important step in the development and application of the system to the U.S. Army training mission. This experiment was designed to examine one potential training area in a small controlled environment, which can be used as the foundation for experimentation with more complex tasks such as wayfinding through an urban environment, and or in direct comparison to more established virtual environments to determine strengths, as well as areas for improvement, to make MR as an effective addition to the Army training mission

Nuevas evidencias sobre la anisotropía del espacio visual y la influencia del entorno en el rendimiento visual

Desde hace años se han realizado múltiples investigaciones que tratan sobre la fiabilidad de la percepción de las distancias en profundidad y la influencia del entorno. En ocasiones, las pistas presentes en el espacio visual entran en conflicto y/o su interpretación conduce a sesgos y errores, produciendo efectos ilusorios al no corresponder las medidas físicas con las percibidas. El objetivo global de esta tesis doctoral ha sido poner de manifiesto nuevas evidencias de la anisotropía del espacio visual y de la influencia del entorno en relación al juicio de distancias entre objetos. Para ello, se han diseñado y ejecutado tres grupos de experimentos cuyos objetivos parciales fueron: Analizar el rol de las disparidades verticales en tareas de juicio de distancias relativas entre objetos situados en diferentes planos de profundidad, en función de la orientación del estímulo. Determinar la influencia del fondo y de la orientación del estímulo en tareas de juicio de distancias relativas entre objetos, situados en un mismo plano frontoparalelo o en diferentes planos de profundidad. Verificar la naturaleza neural de la anisotropía del espacio visual desde un enfoque psicofísico no invasivo mediante el uso de SIRDS. Los resultados obtenidos en esta tesis contribuyen a la comprensión sobre la integración de claves en Visión Binocular y los sesgos visuales perceptivos en la percepción de distancias.Recent decades have witnessed multiple studies investigating the accuracy of our visual system in depth perception, as well as the influence of environmental factors during depth judgment tasks. It is not uncommon for Virtual Space cues to offer contradictory or conflicting information, thus leading to bias and error, which in turn originate illusory effects resulting from discrepancies between real and perceived dimensions. Our research in the integration of cues in Binocular Vision aimed at determining the influence of background characteristics (curved, flat, etc) on the perception of visual stimuli presented over it. Therefore, three different experimental settings were designed and conducted, with partial objectives defined as follows: To evaluate the influence of vertical disparities in depth judgment tasks when stimuli were located at different depth planes and presented different orientations. To determine the influence of background configuration and stimulus orientation on depth judgment tasks, both with stimuli at the same frontoparallel plane or at different depth planes. To evidence the neural origin of the Visual Space anisotropy from a non invasive psychophysical approach with the use of SIRDS. The findings of the present PhD thesis contribute to our understanding of the integration of cues in Binocular Vision, as well as of the nature of visual bias in depth perception

Presence 2005: the eighth annual international workshop on presence, 21-23 September, 2005 University College London (Conference proceedings)

OVERVIEW (taken from the CALL FOR PAPERS) Academics and practitioners with an interest in the concept of (tele)presence are invited to submit their work for presentation at PRESENCE 2005 at University College London in London, England, September 21-23, 2005. The eighth in a series of highly successful international workshops, PRESENCE 2005 will provide an open discussion forum to share ideas regarding concepts and theories, measurement techniques, technology, and applications related to presence, the psychological state or subjective perception in which a person fails to accurately and completely acknowledge the role of technology in an experience, including the sense of 'being there' experienced by users of advanced media such as virtual reality. The concept of presence in virtual environments has been around for at least 15 years, and the earlier idea of telepresence at least since Minsky's seminal paper in 1980. Recently there has been a burst of funded research activity in this area for the first time with the European FET Presence Research initiative. What do we really know about presence and its determinants? How can presence be successfully delivered with today's technology? This conference invites papers that are based on empirical results from studies of presence and related issues and/or which contribute to the technology for the delivery of presence. Papers that make substantial advances in theoretical understanding of presence are also welcome. The interest is not solely in virtual environments but in mixed reality environments. Submissions will be reviewed more rigorously than in previous conferences. High quality papers are therefore sought which make substantial contributions to the field. Approximately 20 papers will be selected for two successive special issues for the journal Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments. PRESENCE 2005 takes place in London and is hosted by University College London. The conference is organized by ISPR, the International Society for Presence Research and is supported by the European Commission's FET Presence Research Initiative through the Presencia and IST OMNIPRES projects and by University College London

Desenvolvimento e avaliação de um sistema de realidade aumentada para visualização cartográfica

Orientador : Prof. Dr. Jorge Antonio Silva CentenoTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências da Terra, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Geodésicas. Defesa: Curitiba, 16/02/2017Inclui referências : f. 174-95Resumo: Nas últimas décadas é notável o aparecimento de sistemas computacionais que favorecem os usuários a executar suas tarefas. Dentre os sistemas que prometem auxiliar os usuários a executar suas tarefas - inclusive as tarefas de leitura de mapa - os baseados em Realidade Aumentada (RA) mostram-se bastante promissores. Estas interfaces computacionais mais naturais podem possibilitar novas formas de interação com a informação e com o ambiente ao redor do usuário. Entretanto, pouco deste tema tem sido explorado, principalmente, no Brasil. Por esse motivo, elaborou-se a presente pesquisa com a intenção de desenvolver e analisar alguns protótipos de Realidade Aumentada para a Cartografia, para interação com mapas e dados geográficos. Neste trabalho abordou-se e utilizou-se de diferentes metodologias para RA, como com e sem marcadores fiduciais especiais, em versão desktop ou para dispositivos móveis. Foram utilizados dados geoespaciais referentes à características físicas, políticas, sociais e demográficas, econômicas e ambientais, integradas sobre diferentes tipos de mapas impressos, de temáticos a topográficos. Explorou-se também a utilização vários formatos de dados, de vetorial a raster, 2D, 3D, animações, etc. É possível destacar que os sistemas de Realidade Aumentada desenvolvidos trazem novas possibilidades de manipulação de dados geográficos, trazendo novas oportunidades de interação com o mapa impresso ou dados geoespaciais digitais. Porém, destaca-se que o desenvolvimento para dispositivos móveis e sem a utilização de marcadores fiduciais externos apresenta-se altamente atrativo, uma vez que este sistema de RA pode ser considerado como uma "lente mágica" ou uma "janela" para o mundo virtual, onde o usuário pode ter acesso a outras informações geoespaciais digitais sobrepostas ao ambiente real através destes dispositivos móveis. Ainda, com a execução de testes com usuários verificou-se que os sistemas de RA desenvolvidos trouxeram significativas melhorias para seus usuários na execução das tarefas, assim como ganhos em quesitos como motivação, confiança, diminuição de demandas físicas e mentais, etc. Com relação à preferencia dos usuários, a grande maioria dos usuários entrevistados preferiu trabalhar com estes sistemas de RA desenvolvidos do que apenas com os mapas impressos. Estudos também sobre se o conhecimento prévio do usuário poderia influenciar na execução das tarefas indicaram que, por mais que os sistemas de RA tenham auxiliado a grande maioria dos usuários, os sistemas de RA possuíram maior aceite e trouxeram maiores contribuições aos usuários não especialistas. Também, verificou-se que, por várias vezes, os usuários tendiam a "brincar" mais com o sistema de RA do que com o mapa impresso, passando mais tempo analisando determinada área ou fenômeno geográfico, demonstrando assim maior interação com os dados e espaço geográfico. Em todos os testes executados foi possível verificar que os usuários se mostravam mais interessados em executar suas tarefas quando apoiados pelos sistemas de RA, por vezes executando as tarefas sorrindo ou fazendo exclamações e comentários positivos sobre o sistema de RA. Desta forma, aplicações de Realidade Aumentada, como a descrita neste trabalho, se tornam importantes ferramentas no auxílio às questões profissionais como planejamento e gestão do espaço geográfico, ou até à área da educação, ensino e aprendizagem, uma vez que a integração dos dados em um ambiente mais interativo pode auxiliar na melhoria do processo de entendimento e compreensão do espaço geográfico por parte dos seus usuários. Palavras-chave: Realidade Aumentada, dados geoespaciais, interatividade, teste com usuários.Abstract: In the last decades it is notable the increase of computational systems that help users to perform their tasks. Among the systems that promise to help users to perform their tasks - including map-reading tasks - those based on Augmented Reality (AR) are quite promising. These natural computational interfaces may allow new forms of interaction with the information and the real world around the users. However, just a little has been explored about it in the world - and especially in Brazil. For this reason, we elaborated this research to development and analyze some prototypes of Augmented Reality for Cartography, for interaction with maps and geographic data, addressing and using different methodologies, such as with or without special fiducial markers, for desktop computers or mobile devices. We have used geospatial data referring to physical, political, social, demographic, economic and environmental characteristics, integrated over different types of printed maps, from thematic to topographic maps. It is possible to highlight that the Augmented Reality systems developed in this work brought new opportunities of interaction with printed maps or digital geospatial data. Moreover, the AR systems brought the possibility of exploration of several formats, as vectors and rasters, 2D, 3D, animations, etc. It was verified that - independently of the methodologies used - with AR systems it was possible to interact with a printed physical map and virtual geographic data simultaneously. However, it is possible to affirm that the AR system developed for mobile devices and using the markerless approach is highly attractive. With this approach the AR system can be considered as a "magic lens" or a "window" to the virtual world, where users could access digital geospatial information superimposed on the real environment through these mobile AR systems. Also, with users' tests, it was verified that the AR systems developed have brought significant improvements to the execution of the tasks, such as gains in motivation, confidence, decrease of physical and mental demands, etc. About the user's preference, a large majority of users interviewed preferred to work with these AR systems than just the printed maps. Also, it has been found that sometimes users tended to "play" more with the AR system than with the printed maps, spending more time analyzing a particular area or geographic phenomenon, demonstrating more interaction with geographic data. Also, it has been verified that users were more interested in performing their tasks when supported by the AR systems - performing their tasks smiling or making exclamations and positive comments about the AR system. By this way, applications of Augmented Reality as a described in this work become an important tool for assistance to professional questions like geographic space planning and management, or to the educational area, since the integration of the geospatial data in an interactive environment can help to improve the process of understanding and comprehension of the geographical space by its users. Keywords: Augmented Reality, geospatial data, interactivity, users' tests

A Comparative Study of User Performance in a Map-Based Virtual Environment

We present a comparative study of user performance with tasks involving navigation, visual search, and geometric manipulation, in a map-based battlefield visualization virtual environment (VE). Specifically, our experiment compared user performance of the same task across four different VE platforms: desktop, cave, workbench, and wall. Independent variables were platform type, stereopsis (stereo, mono), movement control mode (rate, position), and frame of reference (egocentric, exocentric). Overall results showed that users performed tasks fastest using the desktop and slowest using the workbench. Other results are detailed below. Notable is that we designed our task in an application context, with tasking much closer to how users would actually use a real-world battlefield visualization system. This is very uncommon for comparative studies, which are usually designed with abstract tasks to minimize variance. This is, we believe, one of the first and most complex studies to comparatively examine, in an application context, this many key variables affecting VE user interface design