Using the human body as an interactive interface for navigation in VR models

The use of Virtual Reality (VR) and interactive real-time rendering in urban planning and building design are becoming more and more common. However, the integration of VR in the urban planning process suffers from the complicated interaction handling of the virtual environment. In particular, people unfamiliar to gaming environments and computers are less prone to interact with a VR visualization using keyboard and mouse as controlling devices. This paper addresses this issue by presenting an implementation of the XBOX 360 Kinect sensor system, which uses the human body to interact with the virtual environment. This type of interaction interface enables a more natural and user-friendly way of interacting with the virtual environment. The validation of the system shows that respondents perceived the interface as non-demanding and easy to use. The implemented interface to switch between different architecture proposals gave a better understanding and spatial reasoning for the respondent. The study also shows that males perceived the system as more demanding than females. The users also associated and compared their body with virtual environment, which could indicate that they used their body during spatial reasoning. This type of spatial reasoning has been agued to enhance the spatial-perception.