Name
Abstract | ||
|---|---|---|
Maintaining knowledge of current position and orienta- tion is frequently a problem for people in virtual environ- ments. In this paper we present a toolset of techniques based on principles of navigation derived from real world analogs. We include a discussion of human and avian navigation behaviors and show how knowledge about them were used to design our tools. We also sum- marize an informal study we performed to determine how our tools influenced the subjects' navigation behav- ior. We conclude that principles extracted from real world navigation aids such as maps can be seen to apply in virtual environments. Our basic approach to this research begins with a charac- terization of the problem domain in terms of its key char- acteristics. This means we must develop a classification of virtual environments, navigational tasks, and orienta- tion. We also want to consider human abilities, both in- nate and artificially enhanced. Based on our best understanding, we build tools to aid users in the naviga- tional tasks we have identified. Empirical studies of the tools are then used to evaluate their effectiveness. In many cases, we hope to begin to understand why certain tools are more effective than others and to feed this knowledge back into our theoretical framework. Even in the physical world, the natural navigational abil- ities of humans and other animals are not completely un- derstood. When the world is a virtual one, the problem is exacerbated by the degradation of sensory cues resulting from poor resolution, device latencies, and other short- comings of current technologies. As virtual spaces be- come larger, more abstract, and more dynamic, the cues and stimuli associated with the physical world may be lacking altogether. This paper focuses specifically on navigation and the ef- fects differing tools and environmental cues have on the way in which people perform a simple set of generic ex- ploration and searching tasks. We will begin with a brief summary of a classification of virtual worlds intended to set the context for the rest of the paper. We will then summarize some hypotheses concerning navigational ca- pabilities of humans and birds. Finally, we will describe a toolset of possible techniques we built based on these hypotheses and summarize an informal empirical study designed to determine how the tools themselves affect their users' behavior. |
Year | DOI | Venue |
|---|---|---|
1993 | 10.1145/168642.168658 | ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology |
Keywords | Field | DocType |
orientation,navigation,virtual worlds,cognitive maps,virtual environment,cognitive map,empirical study | Sensory cue,Metaverse,Cognitive map,Problem domain,Computer science,Human–computer interaction,Empirical research | Conference |
ISBN | Citations | PageRank |
0-89791-628-X | 133 | 57.11 |
References | Authors | |
3 | 2 | |
Name | Order | Citations | PageRank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rudy P. Darken | 1 | 133 | 57.11 |
| John L. Sibert | 2 | 878 | 178.40 |