Automatic Speed Control For Navigation in 3D Virtual Environment

As technology progresses, the scale and complexity of 3D virtual environments can also increase proportionally. This leads to multiscale virtual environments, which are environments that contain groups of objects with extremely unequal levels of scale. Ideally the user should be able to navigate such environments efficiently and robustly. Yet, most previous methods to automatically control the speed of navigation do not generalize well to environments with widely varying scales. I present an improved method to automatically control the navigation speed of the user in 3D virtual environments. The main benefit of my approach is that automatically adapts the navigation speed in multi-scale environments in a manner that enables efficient navigation with maximum freedom, while still avoiding collisions. The results of a usability tests show a significant reduction in the completion time for a multi-scale navigation task

Entropy and a Sub-Group of Geometric Measures of Paths Predict the Navigability of an Environment

Despite extensive research on navigation, it remains unclear which features of an environment predict how difficult it will be to navigate. We analysed 478,170 trajectories from 10,626 participants who navigated 45 virtual environments in the research app-based game Sea Hero Quest. Virtual environments were designed to vary in a range of properties such as their layout, number of goals, visibility (varying fog) and map condition. We calculated 58 spatial measures grouped into four families: task-specific metrics, space syntax configurational metrics, space syntax geometric metrics, and general geometric metrics. We used Lasso, a variable selection method, to select the most predictive measures of navigation difficulty. Geometric features such as entropy, area of navigable space, number of rings and closeness centrality of path networks were among the most significant factors determining the navigational difficulty. By contrast a range of other measures did not predict difficulty, including measures of intelligibility. Unsurprisingly, other task-specific features (e.g. number of destinations) and fog also predicted navigation difficulty. These findings have implications for the study of spatial behaviour in ecological settings, as well as predicting human movements in different settings, such as complex buildings and transport networks and may aid the design of more navigable environments

Interaction: Beyond retrieval

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57316/1/14504301125_ftp.pd

A Role for the Longitudinal Axis of the Hippocampus in Multiscale Representations of Large and Complex Spatial Environments and Mnemonic Hierarchies

The hippocampus is involved in spatial navigation and memory in rodents and humans. Anatomically, the hippocampus extends along a longitudinal axis that shows a combination of graded and specific interconnections with neocortical and subcortical brain areas. Functionally, place cells are found all along the longitudinal axis and exhibit gradients of properties including an increasing dorsal-to-ventral place field size. We propose a view of hippocampal function in which fine-dorsal to coarse-ventral overlapping representations collaborate to form a multi-level representation of spatial and episodic memory that is dominant during navigation in large and complex environments or when encoding complex memories. This view is supported by the fact that the effects of ventral hippocampal damage are generally only found in larger laboratory-scale environments, and by the finding that human virtual navigation studies associate ventral hippocampal involvement with increased environmental complexity. Other mechanisms such as the ability of place cells to exhibit multiple fields and their ability to scale their fields with changes in environment size may be utilized when forming large-scale cognitive maps. Coarse-grained ventral representations may overlap with and provide multi-modal global contexts to finer-grained intermediate and dorsal representations, a mechanism that may support mnemonic hierarchies of autobiographical memory in humans

Distance: a framework for improving spatial cognition within digital architectural models

This research investigates the need for improvements to navigation tools and locational awareness within digital architectural models so that users’ spatial cognition can be enhanced. Evidence shows that navigation and disorientation are common problems within digital architectural models, often impairing spatial cognition. When a designer or contractor explores a completed digital architectural model for the first time, it can be a progressively frustrating experience, often leading to the creation of an incorrect cognitive map of the building design. A reflective practice research method across three project-based design investigations is used drawing on aspects of architectural communication, digital interaction, and spatial cognition. The first investigation, Translation projects, explores the transformation of two- dimensional drawing conventions into three-dimensional interactive digital models, exposing the need for improved navigation and wayfinding. The second investigation, a series of artificial intelligence navigation projects, explores navigation methods to aid spatial cognition by providing tools that help to visualise the navigation process, paths to travel, and paths travelled. The third and final investigation, Distance projects, demonstrates the benefits of productive transition in the creation of cognitive maps. During the transition, assistance is given to aid the estimation of distance. The original contribution to knowledge that this research establishes is a framework for navigation tools and wayshowing strategies for improving spatial cognition within digital architectural models. The consideration of wayshowing methods, focusing on spatial transitions beyond predefined views of the digital model, provides a strong method for aiding users to construct comprehensive cognitive maps. This research addresses the undeveloped field of aiding distance estimation inside digital architectural models.There is a need to improve spatial cognition by understanding distance, detail, data, and design when reviewing digital architectural models

A Survey of Interaction Techniques for Interactive 3D Environments

International audienceVarious interaction techniques have been developed for interactive 3D environments. This paper presents an up-to-date and comprehensive review of the state of the art of non-immersive interaction techniques for Navigation, Selection & Manipulation, and System Control, including a basic introduction to the topic, the challenges, and an examination of a number of popular approaches. We hope that this survey can aid both researchers and developers of interactive 3D applications in having a clearer overview of the topic and in particular can be useful for practitioners and researchers that are new to the field of interactive 3D graphics

Passive Indoor Positioning System (PIPS) Using Near Field Communication (NFC) Technology

Travel can be an enjoyable experience but it can also be stressful when one is unable to get to the destination in timely manner. Satellite navigation systems (satnav) such as the ubiquitous Global Positioning System (GPS) provide an aid to locating unfamiliar places without hassle. However, the effectiveness of satnav stops at the doorstep of the building due to its requirement for line of sight with orbiting satellites. Within a large complex building, navigation typically relies on building signage, information from kiosks and getting assistance from information desks. The advancement of mobile devices and wireless technology offer an interesting proposition for the development of indoor positioning systems. In this paper, we propose a passive indoor positioning system to provide navigational aid and discuss findings from our pilot experiment using NFC technology

A Conceptual Model of Exploration Wayfinding: An Integrated Theoretical Framework and Computational Methodology

This thesis is an attempt to integrate contending cognitive approaches to modeling wayfinding behavior. The primary goal is to create a plausible model for exploration tasks within indoor environments. This conceptual model can be extended for practical applications in the design, planning, and Social sciences. Using empirical evidence a cognitive schema is designed that accounts for perceptual and behavioral preferences in pedestrian navigation. Using this created schema, as a guiding framework, the use of network analysis and space syntax act as a computational methods to simulate human exploration wayfinding in unfamiliar indoor environments. The conceptual model provided is then implemented in two ways. First of which is by updating an existing agent-based modeling software directly. The second means of deploying the model is using a spatial interaction model that distributed visual attraction and movement permeability across a graph-representation of building floor plans

NaviFields: relevance fields for adaptive VR navigation

Virtual Reality allow users to explore virtual environments naturally, by moving their head and body. However, the size of the environments they can explore is limited by real world constraints, such as the tracking technology or the physical space available. Existing techniques removing these limitations often break the metaphor of natural navigation in VR (e.g. steering techniques), involve control commands (e.g., teleporting) or hinder precise navigation (e.g., scaling user's displacements). This paper proposes NaviFields, which quantify the requirements for precise navigation of each point of the environment, allowing natural navigation within relevant areas, while scaling users' displacements when travelling across non-relevant spaces. This expands the size of the navigable space, retains the natural navigation metaphor and still allows for areas with precise control of the virtual head. We present a formal description of our NaviFields technique, which we compared against two alternative solutions (i.e., homogeneous scaling and natural navigation). Our results demonstrate our ability to cover larger spaces, introduce minimal disruption when travelling across bigger distances and improve very significantly the precise control of the viewpoint inside relevant areas