Iterative and incremental concept development in maritime applications, particularly ship bridges, necessitates early-phase, operation-centric design due to contextual complexities and limited firsthand experience for designers. We propose an innovative method that reconstructs operational scenarios in virtual reality. We describe the tool we have built over the years to support this approach. We demonstrate the tool's use in the context of user interface concept development for ship docking operations. We show how this approach integrates diverse user perspectives in a detailed operational sequence. The tool employs online collaborative interaction design tools to sketch 2D user interface concepts for docking operations, which are then rendered in 3D for expert collaborative evaluation. We argue that our approach enables rapid iteration across various scenarios, offering cost-effectiveness, accessibility, fidelity, and speed essential for user-centered, early-phase, operation-centric design processes.

Maritime regulation establishes a minimum button size of 15 mm for most maritime digital interfaces with touch screens. However, there's a contention that this minimum size might be too small for efficient operation in challenging maritime environments. Notwithstanding these concerns, many interfaces continue to adopt the 15 mm size. In this study, we introduce a novel design concept that notably amplifies click surface areas. This enhancement is achieved by clustering multiple functions within more extensive zones and by refining sub-menus to improve readability, thereby offering expansive click surfaces for all integrated functions within a singular view. This reimagined structure diverges from conventional maritime interface designs, optimizing user accuracy in targeting specific surface areas. Additionally, our method streamlines keystroke interactions, enabling users to traverse the interface with fewer clicks and presenting more generous click surfaces suitable for mouse or trackball use. We provide a comprehensive description of our proposed concept and evaluate it using Fitts' law. Furthermore, we critically examine the potential shortcomings and advantages of our design proposal. In summary, we argue that our design concept likely paves the way for reduced errors and streamlined interactions, particularly beneficial for users experiencing situational impairments at sea.

Augmented reality (AR) technology has emerged as a promising solution that can potentially reduce head-down time and increase situational awareness during navigation operations. It is also useful for remote operation centers where video feeds from remote ships can be "augmented" with data and information. In this article, we introduce a user interface design concept that supports ship navigation by showing data about points of interest in AR. This approach enables users to view and interact with relevant data in the maritime environment by bridging the gap between digital information and real-world features. The proposed concept can provide operational data from various maritime systems, such as radar, GPS, AIS, or camera systems, empowering users with a wealth of information about their surroundings. Developed through an iterative user-centered design process, it was built as an extension to the OpenBridge design system, an open-source platform facilitating consistent design in maritime workplaces. Furthermore, we use this concept to propose a design framework that paves the way for establishing new standards for AR user interface design in the maritime domain.

OSF: https://osf.io/f789r/. Key points: •In a virtual reality experiment, we studied the effects of adding augmented reality features to ship navigation equipment on situation awareness and communication about situation awareness, as well as usability and participants’ reflections on augmented reality for ship navigation. •Adding augmented reality features to ship navigation equipment for lookouts increased situation awareness and communication about situation awareness. This indicates higher shared situation awareness and improved collaboration. •The participants judged the AR to be usable and indicated that it made crucial task information more accessible. On the other hand, they highlighted risks of overreliance, information overload, visual clutter, and attention capture. •The applicability of augmented reality for collaboration in safety-critical operations should be studied in further research.

Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly integrated into maritime design processes, and there is a need to better understand how it can support ship designers in their work. Through mapping and interviews, we investigated how VR was used in two design projects in the maritime industry. We explored two questions: What type of design activities and conversations were facilitated by VR as a collaborative medium? When VR was not selected, what other media were used instead, and for what reasons? We found that despite access to VR, most design conversations were facilitated by emails containing screenshots, visual interpretations, and text annotations. VR was used on a few occasions, together with executable files and flythrough videos made with real-time rendered models generated in a game engine, and a web-based 3D model-sharing tool. The use of VR as a collaboration medium was enabled by a variety of design activities ranging from field studies to 2D sketching and 3D modeling. The cases show how VR needed to be integrated with other forms of communication and was seen as a supplement and not the main communication channel for design. The cases also show that the pipeline required for VR scenes creation enabled other forms of collaboration across different supports, such as web-based online collaboration tools.