Comparative study of user experience on mobile pedestrian navigation between digital map interface and location-based augmented reality

Fast-paced mobile technology development has permitted augmented reality experiences to be delivered on mobile pedestrian navigation context. The fact that the more prevalent of this technology commonly will substituting the digital map visualization to present the geo-location information is still debatable. This paper comprises a report on a field study comparing about user experience when interacting with different modes of mobile electronic assistance in the context of pedestrian navigation interfaces which utilize location-based augmented reality (AR) and two-dimensional digital map to visualize the points of interest (POIs) location in the vicinity of the user. The study was conducted with two subsequent experiments in the Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. The study involved 10 participants aged between 22 and 28 years with different experiences in using smartphones and navigation systems. Navigation performance was measured based on a usability approach on pragmatic quality and hedonic quality like effectiveness (success rate of task completion), efficiency (task completion time) and satisfaction in real outdoor conditions. The evaluation findings have been cross-checked with the user’s personal comments. We aim at eliciting knowledge about user requirements related to mobile pedestrian interfaces and evaluating user experience from pragmatic and hedonic viewpoints. Results show that in the context of pedestrian navigation, digital map interfaces lead to significantly better navigation performance in pragmatic attributes in comparison to AR interfaces. Nevertheless, the study also reveals that location-based AR is more valued by participants in hedonic qualities and overall performance

Empirical evidence, evaluation criteria and challenges for the effectiveness of virtual and mixed reality tools for training operators of car service maintenance

The debate on effectiveness of virtual and mixed reality (VR/MR) tools for training professionals and operators is long-running with prominent contributions arguing that there are several shortfalls of experimental approaches and assessment criteria reported within the literature. In the automotive context, although car-makers were pioneers in the use of VR/MR tools for supporting designers, researchers started only recently to explore the effectiveness of VR/MR systems as mean for driving external operators of service centres to acquire the procedural skills necessary for car maintenance processes. In fact, from 463 journal articles on VR/MR tools for training published in the last thirty years, we identified only eight articles in which researchers experimentally tested the effectiveness of VR/MR tools for training service operators’ skills. To survey the current findings and the deficiencies of these eight studies, we use two main drivers: i) a well-known framework of organizational training programmes, and ii) a list of eleven evaluation criteria widely applied by researchers of different fields for assessing the effectiveness of training carried out with VR/MR systems. The analysis that we present allows us to: i) identify a trend among automotive researchers of focusing their analysis only on car service operators’ performance in terms of time and errors, by leaving unexplored important pre- and post-training aspects that could affect the effectiveness of VR/MR tools to deliver training contents – e.g., people skills, previous experience, cibersickness, presence and engagement, usability and satisfaction and ii) outline the future challenges for designing and assessing VR/MR tools for training car service operators

The HoloLens in Medicine: A systematic Review and Taxonomy

The HoloLens (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA), a head-worn, optically see-through augmented reality display, is the main player in the recent boost in medical augmented reality research. In medical settings, the HoloLens enables the physician to obtain immediate insight into patient information, directly overlaid with their view of the clinical scenario, the medical student to gain a better understanding of complex anatomies or procedures, and even the patient to execute therapeutic tasks with improved, immersive guidance. In this systematic review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the usage of the first-generation HoloLens within the medical domain, from its release in March 2016, until the year of 2021, were attention is shifting towards it's successor, the HoloLens 2. We identified 171 relevant publications through a systematic search of the PubMed and Scopus databases. We analyze these publications in regard to their intended use case, technical methodology for registration and tracking, data sources, visualization as well as validation and evaluation. We find that, although the feasibility of using the HoloLens in various medical scenarios has been shown, increased efforts in the areas of precision, reliability, usability, workflow and perception are necessary to establish AR in clinical practice.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figure

Playing with Data: An Augmented Reality Approach to Interact with Visualizations of Industrial Process Tomography

Industrial process tomography (IPT) is a specialized imaging technique widely used in industrial scenarios for process supervision and control. Today, augmented/mixed reality (AR/MR) is increasingly being adopted in many industrial occasions, even though there is still an obvious gap when it comes to IPT. To bridge this gap, we propose the first systematic AR approach using optical see-through (OST) head mounted displays (HMDs) with comparative evaluation for domain users towards IPT visualization analysis. The proof-of-concept was demonstrated by a within-subject user study (n=20) with counterbalancing design. Both qualitative and quantitative measurements were investigated. The results showed that our AR approach outperformed conventional settings for IPT data visualization analysis in bringing higher understandability, reduced task completion time, lower error rates for domain tasks, increased usability with enhanced user experience, and a better recommendation level. We summarize the findings and suggest future research directions for benefiting IPT users with AR/MR

An effective approach to develop location-based augmented reality information support

Using location-based augmented reality (AR) for pedestrian navigation can greatly improve user action to reduce the travel time. Pedestrian navigation differs in many ways from the conventional navigation system used in a car or other vehicles. A major issue with using location-based AR for navigation to a specific landmark is their quality of usability, especially if the active screen is overcrowded with the augmented POI markers which were overlap each other at the same time. This paper describes the user journey map approach that led to new insights about how users were using location-based AR for navigation. These insights led to a deep understanding of challenges that user must face when using location-based AR application for pedestrian navigation purpose, and more generally, they helped the development team to appreciate the variety of user experience in software requirement specification phase. To prove our concept, a prototype of intuitive location-based AR was built to be compared with existing standard-location based AR. The user evaluation results reveal that the overall functional requirements which are gathered from user journey have same level of success rate criteria when compared with standard location-based AR. Nevertheless, the field study participants highlighted the extended features in our prototype could significantly enhance the user action on locating the right object in particular place when compared with standard location-based AR application (proved with the required time)

Mixed-methods research: a new approach to evaluating the motivation and satisfaction of university students using advanced visual technologies

The final publication is available at link.springer.comA mixed-methods study evaluating the motivation and satisfaction of Architecture degree students using interactive visualization methods is presented in this paper. New technology implementations in the teaching field have been largely extended to all types of levels and educational frameworks. However, these innovations require approval validation and evaluation by the final users, the students. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of applying mixed evaluation technology are discussed in a case study of the use of interactive and collaborative tools for the visualization of 3D architectonical models. The main objective was to evaluate Architecture and Building Science students’ the motivation to use and satisfaction with this type of technology and to obtain adequate feedback that allows for the optimization of this type of experiment in future iterations.Postprint (author’s final draft

Impact of an augmented reality system on students' motivation for a visual art course

In this paper, the authors show that augmented reality technology has a positive impact on the motivation of middle-school students. The Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS) (Keller, 2010) based on the ARCS motivation model (Keller, 1987a) was used to gather information; it considers four motivational factors: attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. Motivational factors of attention and satisfaction in an augmented-reality-based learning environment were better rated than those obtained in a slides-based learning environment. When the impact of the augmented reality system was analyzed in isolation, the attention and confidence factors were the best rated. The usability study showed that although this technology is not mature enough to be used massively in education, enthusiasm of middle-school students diminished most of the barriers found. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.This research has been partially supported by the Spanish national projects Learn3 (grant TIN2008-05163/TSI) and EEE (grant TIN2011-28308-C03-01) and the Madrid regional project eMadrid (grant S2009/TIC-1650).Publicad

HP Windows Mixed Reality vs Meta 2: Investigating Differences in Workload and Usability for a Ball-sorting Task

Perceived workload and usability are crucial components of human-computer interactions. Currently, there is a gap in research comparing Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) systems for workload and usability. This study attempts to bridge that gap through the comparison of the HP Windows Mixed Reality system and the Meta 2 system for a ball-sorting task. Subjective questionnaires on workload and usability were implemented as comparative measures for three game scenarios of increasing difficulty. Forty-one participants were recruited from the University of Central Florida and its surrounding communities. Results showed significantly lower cumulative total workload and greater usability (for the subscale of ease of use) for the HP Windows Mixed Reality system when compared to the Meta 2 system. There were no statistically significant differences reported for the other usability subscales between the two systems. Also, there were no statistically significant differences in total workload within the three scenarios for both systems. The findings could be attributed to differences in control schemes (i.e., native handheld controllers versus hand gestures), user experience with AR and VR systems, and difficulty of task scenarios

The usability attributes and evaluation measurements of mobile media AR (augmented reality)

This research aims to develop a tool for creating user-based design interfaces in mobile augmented reality (MAR) education. To develop a design interface evaluation tool, previous literature was examined for key design elements in the educational usage of MAR. The evaluation criteria identified were presence, affordance, and usability. The research used a focus group interview with 7 AR experts to develop a basic usability evaluation checklist, which was submitted to factor analysis for reliability by 122 experts in practice and academia. Based on this checklist, a MAR usability design interface test was conducted with seven fourth-grade elementary students. Then, it conducted follow-up structured interviews and questionnaires. This resulted in 29 questions being developed for the MAR interface design checklist.ope

Motivación y mejora académica utilizando realidad aumentada para el estudio de modelos tridimensionales arquitectónicos

En el presente artículo discutimos los resultados de evaluar el grado de motivación, el perfil y el nivel de satisfacción de los estudiantes en flujos de trabajo que utilizan la visualización aumentada de modelos complejos en 3D. El estudio muestra los resultados de experimentos realizados con alumnos de grado a lo largo de los dos primeros cursos de Arquitectura y el actual grado de Ciencias y Tecnologías de la Construcción (antiguo grado español de Ingeniería de la Construcción, y con cuyo nombre se reconoce a nivel europeo). Hemos utilizado un método mixto que combina el uso de técnicas cuantitativas y cualitativas de evaluación de la respuesta del estudiante, con el fin de completar una visión más global del uso de nuevas tecnologías, dispositivos móviles y métodos visuales avanzados en campos académicos. Los resultados nos muestran cómo los estudiantes partícipes de dichos experimentos han mejorado sus resultados académicos y su implicación con la materia, un punto clave en el actual marco educativo compuesto por estudiantes nativos digitales y un gran número de aplicaciones y dispositivos para la enseñanza y el aprendizajePostprint (published version