Dynamic versus static peephole navigation of VR panoramas on handheld devices

Virtual reality panoramic images are becoming increasingly popular on handheld devices, but navigating them remains a challenge due to small screen sizes. In this paper, we present a formal evaluation and usability studies comparing two interaction concepts. In the first one, the device is seen as a static peephole and the data is moved behind it via touch screen-based scrolling. In the second one, a mobile phone's sensors are used to create a dynamic peephole that can be moved over static content. In the results of our formal analysis sensor-based dynamic peephole navigation performed twice as good in an orientation task, 75% better in an object size discrimination task, and was preferred by 80% of the users. Despite these advantages, additional usability studies indicate that if they are sitting, a majority of users resort to touch screen-based static peephole navigation when interacting. Our results therefore demonstrate benefits of dynamic peephole navigation for virtual reality panoramas but also illustrate its limitations depending on the current context of the user.