Human-computer Interaction in Real 3D and Pseudo-3D Cartographic Visualization: A Comparative Study

This chapter summarizes the results of an experiment performed as basic research on the three-dimensional (3D) display of geographical information using two alternative control devices (a Wii remote controller and a mouse). The aim was to explore the influence of a specific type of visualization on the human understanding of depicted geographical information and to discover which type of display—real 3D or pseudo-3D combined with a Wii remote controller and a computer mouse—can be considered better for working with geographical bases. The research was set up as an exploratory analysis and examined the performance of 17 participants. As expected, there were differences in the results between the types of visualization and devices used. Real-3D visualization appeared faster but less suitable for the successful management of tasks than the pseudo-3D visualization. We found no significant differences based on the controlling device when elaborating tasks, but we believe the Wii remote controller device to be a promising device for future studies.