ViBe (Virtual Berlin) - Immersive Interactive 3D Urban Data Visualization - Immersive interactive 3D urban data visualization

The project investigates the possibility of visualizing open source data in a 3D interactive virtual environment. We propose a new tool, 'ViBe'. We programmed 'ViBe' using Unity for its compatibility with HTC VIVE glasses for virtual reality (VR). ViBe offers an abstract visualization of open source data in a 3D interactive environment. The ViBe environment entails three main topics a) inhabitants, b) environmental factors, and c) land-use; acting as representatives of parameters for cities and urban design. Berlin serves as a case study. The data sets used are divided according to Berlin's twelve administrative districts. The user immerses into the virtual environment where they can choose, using the HTC Vive controllers, which district (or Berlin as a whole) they want information for and which topics they want to be visualized, and they can also teleport back and forth between the different districts. The goal of this project is to represent different urban parameters an abstract simulation where we correlate the corresponding data sets. By experiencing the city through visualized data, ViBe aims to provide the user with a clearer perspective onto the city and the relationship between its urban parameters. ViBe is designed for adults and kids, urban planners, politicians and real estate developers alike

Immersive 4D Interactive Visualization of Large-Scale Simulations

In dense clusters a bewildering variety of interactions between stars can be observed, ranging from simple encounters to collisions and other mass-transfer encounters. With faster and special-purpose computers like GRAPE, the amount of data per simulation is now exceeding 1TB. Visualization of such data has now become a complex 4D data-mining problem, combining space and time, and finding interesting events in these large datasets. We have recently starting using the virtual reality simulator, installed in the Hayden Planetarium in the American Museum for Natural History, to tackle some of these problem. This work (http://www.astro.umd.edu/nemo/amnh/) reports on our first ``observations'', modifications needed for our specific experiments, and perhaps field ideas for other fields in science which can benefit from such immersion. We also discuss how our normal analysis programs can be interfaced with this kind of visualization.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, ADASS-X conference proceeding

Prop-Based Haptic Interaction with Co-location and Immersion: an Automotive Application

Most research on 3D user interfaces aims at providing only a single sensory modality. One challenge is to integrate several sensory modalities into a seamless system while preserving each modality's immersion and performance factors. This paper concerns manipulation tasks and proposes a visuo-haptic system integrating immersive visualization, tactile force and tactile feedback with co-location. An industrial application is presented

Exploring the Design Space of Immersive Urban Analytics

Recent years have witnessed the rapid development and wide adoption of immersive head-mounted devices, such as HTC VIVE, Oculus Rift, and Microsoft HoloLens. These immersive devices have the potential to significantly extend the methodology of urban visual analytics by providing critical 3D context information and creating a sense of presence. In this paper, we propose an theoretical model to characterize the visualizations in immersive urban analytics. Further more, based on our comprehensive and concise model, we contribute a typology of combination methods of 2D and 3D visualizations that distinguish between linked views, embedded views, and mixed views. We also propose a supporting guideline to assist users in selecting a proper view under certain circumstances by considering visual geometry and spatial distribution of the 2D and 3D visualizations. Finally, based on existing works, possible future research opportunities are explored and discussed.Comment: 23 pages,11 figure

An Introduction to 3D User Interface Design

3D user interface design is a critical component of any virtual environment (VE) application. In this paper, we present a broad overview of three-dimensional (3D) interaction and user interfaces. We discuss the effect of common VE hardware devices on user interaction, as well as interaction techniques for generic 3D tasks and the use of traditional two-dimensional interaction styles in 3D environments. We divide most user interaction tasks into three categories: navigation, selection/manipulation, and system control. Throughout the paper, our focus is on presenting not only the available techniques, but also practical guidelines for 3D interaction design and widely held myths. Finally, we briefly discuss two approaches to 3D interaction design, and some example applications with complex 3D interaction requirements. We also present an annotated online bibliography as a reference companion to this article

Exploring the Use of Virtual Worlds as a Scientific Research Platform: The Meta-Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA)

We describe the Meta-Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA), the first professional scientific organization based exclusively in virtual worlds (VWs). The goals of MICA are to explore the utility of the emerging VR and VWs technologies for scientific and scholarly work in general, and to facilitate and accelerate their adoption by the scientific research community. MICA itself is an experiment in academic and scientific practices enabled by the immersive VR technologies. We describe the current and planned activities and research directions of MICA, and offer some thoughts as to what the future developments in this arena may be.Comment: 15 pages, to appear in the refereed proceedings of "Facets of Virtual Environments" (FaVE 2009), eds. F. Lehmann-Grube, J. Sablating, et al., ICST Lecture Notes Ser., Berlin: Springer Verlag (2009); version with full resolution color figures is available at http://www.mica-vw.org/wiki/index.php/Publication

Immersive VR Visualizations by VFIVE. Part 1: Development

We have been developing a visualization application for CAVE-type virtual reality (VR) systems for more than a decade. This application, VFIVE, is currently used in several CAVE systems in Japan for routine visualizations. It is also used as a base system of further developments of advanced visualizations. The development of VFIVE is summarized.Comment: 9 figure

Immersive and non immersive 3D virtual city: decision support tool for urban sustainability

Sustainable urban planning decisions must not only consider the physical structure of the urban development but the economic, social and environmental factors. Due to the prolonged times scales of major urban development projects the current and future impacts of any decision made must be fully understood. Many key project decisions are made early in the decision making process with decision makers later seeking agreement for proposals once the key decisions have already been made, leaving many stakeholders, especially the general public, feeling marginalised by the process. Many decision support tools have been developed to aid in the decision making process, however many of these are expert orientated, fail to fully address spatial and temporal issues and do not reflect the interconnectivity of the separate domains and their indicators. This paper outlines a platform that combines computer game techniques, modelling of economic, social and environmental indicators to provide an interface that presents a 3D interactive virtual city with sustainability information overlain. Creating a virtual 3D urban area using the latest video game techniques ensures: real-time rendering of the 3D graphics; exploitation of novel techniques of how complex multivariate data is presented to the user; immersion in the 3D urban development, via first person navigation, exploration and manipulation of the environment with consequences updated in real-time. The use of visualisation techniques begins to remove sustainability assessment’s reliance on the existing expert systems which are largely inaccessible to many of the stakeholder groups, especially the general public