Efficient View Management for Dynamic Annotation Placement in Virtual Landscapes

We present a dynamic placement technique for annotations of virtual landscapes that is based on efficient view management. Annotations represent textual or symbolic descriptions and provide explanatory or thematic information associated with spatial positions. The technique handles external annotations as 2.5 dimensional objects and adjusts their positions with respect to available space in the view-plane. The approach intends to place labels without occlusions and, if this cannot be achieved, favors those annotations that are close to the observer. This technique solves the visibility problem of annotations in an approximate but user-centric way. It operates in real-time and therefore can be applied to interactive virtual landscapes. Additionally, the approach can be configured to fine tune the trade off between placement quality and processing time with a single parameter.

[1]  Knut Hartmann,et al.  Illustrative shadows: integrating 3D and 2D information displays , 2003, IUI '03.

[2]  Steven K. Feiner,et al.  View management for virtual and augmented reality , 2001, UIST '01.

[3]  Thomas H. Kolbe.  Augmented Videos and Panoramas for Pedestrian Navigation , 2004 .

[4]  Gavin S. P. Miller,et al.  Hierarchical Z-buffer visibility , 1993, SIGGRAPH.

[5]  Joe Marks,et al.  A General Cartographic Labeling Algorithm , 1996 .

[6]  M. Sheelagh T. Carpendale,et al.  Integrating expanding annotations with a 3D explosion probe , 2004, AVI.

[7]  Jürgen Döllner,et al.  Dynamic Annotation of Interactive Environments using Object-Integrated Billboards , 2006 .

[8]  Steven K. Feiner,et al.  Dynamic space management for user interfaces , 2000, UIST '00.

[9]  Gunnar W. Klau,et al.  Force-Based Label Number Maximization , 2003 .

[10]  Joe Marks,et al.  The Computational Complexity of Cartographic Label Placement , 1991 .

[11]  Wallace Chigona,et al.  Dual-Use of Image Space: The Challenges of Explaining Visualizations from Within , 2001, SimVis.

[12]  Timo Götzelmann,et al.  Metrics for Functional and Aesthetic Label Layouts , 2005, Smart Graphics.

[13]  Knut Hartmann,et al.  Floating Labels: Applying Dynamic Potential Fields for Label Layout , 2004, Smart Graphics.

[14]  Bernhard Preim,et al.  Coherent Zooming of Illustrations with 3D-Graphics and Text , 1997, Graphics Interface.

[15]  Sebastian Müller,et al.  A Smart Algorithm for Column Chart Labeling , 2005, Smart Graphics.

[16]  Joe Marks,et al.  An empirical study of algorithms for point-feature label placement , 1995, TOGS.

[17]  Knut Hartmann,et al.  Label Layout for Interactive 3D Illustrations , 2005, J. WSCG.