Bimanual handheld mixed reality interfaces for urban planning

Tabletop models are common in architectural and urban planning tasks. We report here on an investigation for view navigation in and manipulation of tracked tabletop models using a handheld Mixed Reality interface targeted at a user group with varying professional background and skill level. Users were asked to complete three basic task types: searching, inserting and creating content in a mixed reality scene, each requiring the user to navigate in the scene while interacting. This study was designed to naturally progress on classic problems like travel, selection and manipulation in an applied scenario concerned with urban planning. The novel bimanual interface configurations utilize a handheld touch screen display for Mixed Reality, with the camera/viewpoint attached or handheld separately. Usability aspects and user satisfaction are scrutinized by a user study, aimed at optimizing usability and supporting the user's intentions in a natural way. We present the results from the user study showing significant differences in task completion times as well as user preferences and practical issues concerning both interface and view navigation design.

[1]  George W. Fitzmaurice,et al.  StyleCam: interactive stylized 3D navigation using integrated spatial & temporal controls , 2002, UIST '02.

[2]  Michael McKenna,et al.  Interactive viewpoint control and three-dimensional operations , 1992, I3D '92.

[3]  Trevor Barker,et al.  Investigation into effective navigation in desktop virtual interfaces , 2002, Web3D '02.

[4]  Martin Hachet,et al.  Navidget for Easy 3D Camera Positioning from 2D Inputs , 2008, 2008 IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces.

[5]  Ivan Poupyrev,et al.  Tangible augmented reality , 2008, SIGGRAPH 2008.

[6]  Ivan Poupyrev,et al.  Mixing realities in Shared Space: an augmented reality interface for collaborative computing , 2000, 2000 IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo. ICME2000. Proceedings. Latest Advances in the Fast Changing World of Multimedia (Cat. No.00TH8532).

[7]  Igor Mordatch,et al.  Multiscale 3D navigation , 2009, I3D '09.

[8]  Colin Ware,et al.  Exploration and virtual camera control in virtual three dimensional environments , 1990, I3D '90.

[9]  Jock D. Mackinlay,et al.  Rapid controlled movement through a virtual 3D workspace , 1990, SIGGRAPH.

[10]  J. Underkoff.  Urp : A Luminous-Tangible Workbench for Urban Planning and Design , 1999, CHI 1999.

[11]  George W. Fitzmaurice,et al.  The Rockin'Mouse: integral 3D manipulation on a plane , 1997, CHI.

[12]  Thomas B. Moeslund,et al.  The ARTHUR system: an augmented round table , 2004 .

[13]  Ravin Balakrishnan,et al.  Exploring bimanual camera control and object manipulation in 3D graphics interfaces , 1999, CHI '99.

[14]  George W. Fitzmaurice,et al.  Safe 3D navigation , 2008, I3D '08.

[15]  George W. Fitzmaurice,et al.  HoverCam: interactive 3D navigation for proximal object inspection , 2005, I3D '05.

[16]  Steven K. Feiner,et al.  Architectural Anatomy , 1995, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[17]  Michael Gleicher,et al.  Through-the-lens camera control , 1992, SIGGRAPH.

[18]  Doug A. Bowman,et al.  Travel in immersive virtual environments: an evaluation of viewpoint motion control techniques , 1997, Proceedings of IEEE 1997 Annual International Symposium on Virtual Reality.

[19]  Eric A. Wernert,et al.  Constrained 3D navigation with 2D controllers , 1997, Proceedings. Visualization '97 (Cat. No. 97CB36155).

[20]  Schmalstieg Dieter,et al.  MR Tent: a place for co-constructing mixed realities in urban planning , 2009 .

[21]  Ken Hinckley,et al.  A survey of design issues in spatial input , 1994, UIST '94.

[22]  Grigori Evreinov,et al.  User performance with trackball-mice , 2007, Interact. Comput..

[23]  Eva Hornecker,et al.  Multilevel design and role play: experiences in assessing support for neighborhood participation in design , 2002, DIS '02.

[24]  Suya You,et al.  Visualizing Reality in an Augmented Virtual Environment , 2004, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[25]  Dieter Schmalstieg,et al.  Urban Sketcher: Mixed Reality on Site for Urban Planning and Architecture , 2007, 2007 6th IEEE and ACM International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality.

[26]  Hiroshi Ishii,et al.  Illuminating clay: a 3-D tangible interface for landscape analysis , 2002, CHI.

[27]  Hiroshi Ishii,et al.  Augmented urban planning workbench: overlaying drawings, physical models and digital simulation , 2002, Proceedings. International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality.

[28]  Andrei State,et al.  Modeling Real Objects Using Video See-Through Augmented Reality , 2002, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[29]  Ann Morrison,et al.  On the Role of Presence in Mixed Reality , 2009, PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments.

[30]  Doug A. Bowman,et al.  A methodology for the evaluation of travel techniques for immersive virtual environments , 1998, Virtual Reality.

[31]  Ivan Poupyrev,et al.  Virtual object manipulation on a table-top AR environment , 2000, Proceedings IEEE and ACM International Symposium on Augmented Reality (ISAR 2000).

[32]  George W. Fitzmaurice,et al.  ShowMotion: camera motion based 3D design review , 2006, I3D '06.

[33]  Randy Pausch,et al.  Virtual reality on a WIM: interactive worlds in miniature , 1995, CHI '95.