Real-Time Gaze Tracking with a Consumer-Grade Video Camera

Eye gaze can be a rich source of information to identify particular interests of human users. Eye gaze tracking has been largely used in different research areas in the last years, as for example in psychology, visual system design and to leverage the user interaction with computer systems. In this paper, we present an IR-based gaze tracking framework that can be easily coupled to common user applications and allows for real-time gaze estimation. Compared to other gaze tracking systems, our system uses only affordable consumer-grade hardware and still achieves fair accuracy. To evaluate the usability of our gaze tracking system, we performed a user study with persons of different genders and ethnicities

Eye tracking and visualization. Introduction to the Special Thematic Issue

There is a growing interest in eye tracking technologies applied to support traditional visualization techniques like diagrams, charts, maps, or plots, either static, animated, or interactive ones. More complex data analyses are required to derive knowledge and meaning from the data. Eye tracking systems serve that purpose in combination with biological and computer vision, cognition, perception, visualization,  human-computer-interaction, as well as usability and user experience research. The 10 articles collected in this thematic special issue provide interesting examples how sophisticated methods of data analysis and representation enable researchers to discover and describe fundamental spatio-temporal regularities in the data. The human visual system, supported by appropriate visualization tools, enables the human operator to solve complex tasks, like understanding and interpreting three-dimensional medical images, controlling air traffic by radar displays, supporting instrument flight tasks, or interacting with virtual realities. The development and application of new visualization techniques is of major importance for future technological progress

Eye-tracking in map use, map user and map usability research: what are we looking for?

This overview paper summarises the ‘state of the art and of the science’ of eye-tracking, and its applications in map use research. Cartographic research is introduced, and its contemporary direction, which indicates that the main areas of such research are now focussed on human beings and their interaction with maps and geospatial displays, is stressed. A brief outline of several different methodologies for map use research is presented: observation, thinking loud, keyboard analysis, eye-tracking, and questionnaires. The role of eye-tracking as a major methodology for use, user, and usability investigation is explored; along with the possible choices for the researcher in the important areas of participant selection, eye-tracking equipment, set-up and use of the testing environment, and analysis of output data. Typical outcomes from eye tracking research are considered, with an assessment of its value in cartographic research in general. Future directions are suggested, along with the need for cartography to promote the valuable work done by researchers using eye-tracking for map use studies to the wider human-computer interaction community, expanding the scope of the geospatial-based stimuli in such experiments beyond maps, making use of the significant expertise and enthusiasm of cartographic researchers

EyeSee3D 2.0: Model-based Real-time Analysis of Mobile Eye-Tracking in Static and Dynamic Three-Dimensional Scenes

Pfeiffer T, Renner P, Pfeiffer-Leßmann N. EyeSee3D 2.0: Model-based Real-time Analysis of Mobile Eye-Tracking in Static and Dynamic Three-Dimensional Scenes. In: Proceedings of the Ninth Biennial ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research & Applications. New York, NY, USA: ACM Press; 2016: 189-196.With the launch of ultra-portable systems, mobile eye tracking finally has the potential to become mainstream. While eye movements on their own can already be used to identify human activities, such as reading or walking, linking eye movements to objects in the environment provides even deeper insights into human cognitive processing. We present a model-based approach for the identification of fixated objects in three-dimensional environments. For evaluation, we compare the automatic labelling of fixations with those performed by human annotators. In addition to that, we show how the approach can be extended to support moving targets, such as individual limbs or faces of human interaction partners. The approach also scales to studies using multiple mobile eye-tracking systems in parallel. The developed system supports real-time attentive systems that make use of eye tracking as means for indirect or direct human-computer interaction as well as off-line analysis for basic research purposes and usability studies

Low-cost eye tracker

Eye trackers have useful applications in numerous industries and fields of research. However, while commercial eye trackers currently exist for these applications, they are exceedingly expensive, limiting their application to high-end speciality products and thus making them unsuitable as a low-cost solution. For this reason, a low-cost eye tracker utilising open-source software would greatly increase the accessibility of eye trackers to those who would benefit from the technology. Modern technology advancements have enabled off-the-shelf video hardware such as computer webcams and consumer video cameras to be suitable for use in an eye tracking hardware configuration while still maintaining their low cost and high accessibility. Furthermore, the development of open-source eye tracking software to operate in conjunction with this hardware has significantly facilitated the implementation of such hardware in the eye tracking system. With the increasing dependence on computers and technology in everyday life, it is of increasing importance to study software usability testing and human-computer interaction to enhance the user experience. This dissertation details the development of a low-cost eye tracker using off-the-shelf hardware and open-source software to analyse how learning tools are used by students. Throughout this process, a low-cost head-mounted eye tracking hardware configuration was designed and developed. Implementation of the hardware was achieved using the ITU Gaze Tracker software, developed by the ITU University of Copenhagen (San Agustin, Skovsgaard, Mollenbach, Barret, Tall, Hansen & Hansen 2010). The Gaze Analyser software was also developed to analyse and visualise fixations identified in the raw eye tracking data

GazeTouchPass: Multimodal Authentication Using Gaze and Touch on Mobile Devices

We propose a multimodal scheme, GazeTouchPass, that combines gaze and touch for shoulder-surfing resistant user authentication on mobile devices. GazeTouchPass allows passwords with multiple switches between input modalities during authentication. This requires attackers to simultaneously observe the device screen and the user's eyes to find the password. We evaluate the security and usability of GazeTouchPass in two user studies. Our findings show that GazeTouchPass is usable and significantly more secure than single-modal authentication against basic and even advanced shoulder-surfing attacks

Analyzing eye movement patterns to improve map design

Recently, the use of eye tracking systems has been introduced in the field of cartography and GIS to support the evaluation of the quality of maps towards the user. The quantitative eye movement metrics are related to for example the duration or the number of the fixations which are subsequently (statistically) compared to detect significant differences in map designs or between different user groups. Hence, besides these standard eye movement metrics, other - more spatial - measurements and visual interpretations of the data are more suitable to investigate how users process, store and retrieve information from a (dynamic and/or) interactive map. This information is crucial to get insights in how users construct their cognitive map: e.g. is there a general search pattern on a map and which elements influence this search pattern, how do users orient a map, what is the influence of for example a pan operation. These insights are in turn crucial to be able to construct more effective maps towards the user, since the visualisation of the information on the map can be keyed to the user his cognitive processes. The study focuses on a qualitative and visual approach of the eye movement data resulting from a user study in which 14 participants were tested while working on 20 different dynamic and interactive demo-maps. Since maps are essentially spatial objects, the analysis of these eye movement data is directed towards the locations of the fixations, the visual representation of the scanpaths, clustering and aggregation of the scanpaths. The results from this study show interesting patterns in the search strategies of users on dynamic and interactive maps