Published in: IEEE Proceedings. VR 2005. Virtual Reality, 2005

In this paper, we present a study to show that matching the dimensionality of interaction techniques with the dimensional demands of the task results in an interface that facilitates superior performance on interaction tasks without sacrificing performance on 2D tasks in favor of 3D tasks and vice versa. We describe the concept of dimensional congruence and how to identify the dimensional characteristics of a task so that appropriate interaction techniques can be applied. We constructed a prototypical application in a Virtual Environment Enclosure (VEE) using a hand-held device to show how this might be done in this type of apparatus. We then describe a study that evaluates both 2D and 3D tasks as performed using typical 2D and 3D interaction techniques. Results show that an appropriate mix of 2D and 3D interaction techniques is preferred over exclusive use of one or the other. The challenge lies not in selecting independent interaction techniques for specific tasks, but rather in constructing an overall interface that mixes 2D and 3D interactions appropriately.

Questions and answers about the great principles framework for computing and its impact on the organization and content of curriculum, with special attention to communicating our field, teaching programming, and appealing to a diverse audience.

A presentation as an invited speaker for IEEE Cyberworlds 2003, the International Conference on Cyberworlds, Singapore.

Navigation tasks in large virtual environments often call for the use of a virtual map. However, all maps are not alike. Performance on navigation tasks in general has been shown to vary depending on the orientation of the map with respect to the user's frame of reference. This paper reports the results of an experiment investigating orientation issues of virtual maps for use during navigation tasks. Participants were given a virtual map in either a north-up or forward-up configuration. Performance on search tasks was measured in terms of search time and errors. Results indicate that targeted search tasks (tasks requiring only the egocentric reference frame) are best served by a forward-up alignment while primed and naive search tasks (tasks requiring information from the world reference frame) prefer a north-up alignment. Both types of maps are affected by the ability of user to perform mental rotations.

Article Free Access Share on The omni-directional treadmill: a locomotion device for virtual worlds Authors: Rudolph P. Darken Department of Computer Science, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA Department of Computer Science, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CAView Profile , William R. Cockayne Department of Computer Science, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA Department of Computer Science, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CAView Profile , David Carmein Virtual Space Devices, Inc., Bloomington, MN Virtual Space Devices, Inc., Bloomington, MNView Profile Authors Info & Claims UIST '97: Proceedings of the 10th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technologyOctober 1997 Pages 213–221https://doi.org/10.1145/263407.263550Published:01 October 1997Publication History 207citation1,526DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations207Total Downloads1,526Last 12 Months165Last 6 weeks10 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

People have severe problems wayfinding in large virtual worlds. However, current implementations of virtual worlds provide little support for effective wayfinding. We assert that knowledge about human wayfinding in the physical world can be applied to construct aids for wayfinding in virtual worlds. An experiment was conducted to determine whether people use physical world wayfinding strategies in large virtual worlds. The study measures subject performance on a complex searching task in a number of virtual worlds with differing environmental cues. The results show that subjects in the treatment without any additional cues were often disoriented and had extreme difficulty completing the task. In general, subjects ’ wayfinding strategies and behaviors were strongly influenced by the environmental cues in ways suggested by the underlying design principles.

As important as navigation is to human performance in virtual worlds, it is an often overlooked problem in the design process. This article reports an experiment intended to show that real‐world wayfinding and environmental design principles are effective in designing virtual worlds that support skilled wayfinding behavior. The study measures participant performance on a complex searching task in a number of virtual worlds with differing environmental cues. The worlds are augmented with either a radial grid, a map, or both a grid and a map. The control condition provided no additional navigational cues. The results showed that navigational performance was superior under both map treatments as compared to the control and grid conditions. The grid was, however, shown to provide superior directional information as compared to the other conditions. The control condition provided the worst performance, with participants often becoming disoriented and experiencing extreme difficulty completing the tasks.

Maintaining knowledge of current position and orientation is frequently a problem for people in virtual environments. In this paper we present a toolset of techniques based on principles of navigation derived from real world analogs. We include a discussion of human and avian navigation behaviours and show how knowledge about them were used to design our tools. We also summarize an informal study we performed to determine how our tools influenced the subjects'navigation behaviour. We conclude that principles extracted from real world navigation aids such as maps can be seen to apply in virtual environments.