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What's the Situation with Situated Visualization? A Survey and Perspectives on Situatedness
Abstract
Situated visualization is an emerging concept within visualization, in which data is visualized in situ, where it is relevant to people. The concept has gained interest from multiple research communities, including visualization, human-computer interaction (HCI) and augmented reality. This has led to a range of explorations and applications of the concept, however, this early work has focused on the operational aspect of situatedness leading to inconsistent adoption of the concept and terminology. First, we contribute a literature survey in which we analyze 44 papers that explicitly use the term “situated visualization” to provide an overview of the research area, how it defines situated visualization, common application areas and technology used, as well as type of data and type of visualizations. Our survey shows that research on situated visualization has focused on technology-centric approaches that foreground a spatial understanding of situatedness. Secondly, we contribute five perspectives on situatedness (space, time, place, activity, and community) that together expand on the prevalent notion of situatedness in the corpus. We draw from six case studies and prior theoretical developments in HCI. Each perspective develops a generative way of looking at and working with situatedness in design and research. We outline future directions, including considering technology, material and aesthetics, leveraging the perspectives for design, and methods for stronger engagement with target audiences. We conclude with opportunities to consolidate situated visualization research.
... Data physicalisation involves the construction of 'a physical artefact whose geometry or material properties encode data' [77]. Interacting with such a physical artefact enhances the cognitive understanding of data [76], as an individual can more easily relate the physical affordances and interaction mechanisms [115] into their personal experiences [19]. By embodying data in a way that is both relatable [133] and aesthetically pleasing [63], a data physicalisation can be experienced through multiple senses [62], evoke enjoyment [61], and even engage the body as a whole [65]. ...
... Furthermore, physicalisation expands the goal of personal visualisations [66] to broaden data analysis from professional settings to personal insights and communal interests, by supporting individuals to contribute data that is relevant to them and their communities. Considering that many examples of physicalisations have already been documented for their ability to support individuals in data-based reflection [5] and to encode new data [20] in places [19] and through interactions [115] that they find meaningful, we hypothesise that physicalisations are built on the premise that they offer a more transparent alternative for individuals to participate in meaningful data-driven activities by naturally exposing the decisions and points of view involved in their construction. ...
... Using subjective and objective criteria, we framed each of the five dimensions of the ontology in literature that provided answers to the five corresponding questions. By discussing with the expert co-authors with expertise in design and criticality, we subjectively identified six canon publications [5,19,65,81,82,115] based on the co-authors collective knowledge and academic interests. We used these as seed publications because they aligned with the feminist research objectives of this study by providing relevant and reflective contributions. ...
Participatory data physicalisation (PDP) is recognised for its potential to support data-driven decisions among stakeholders who collaboratively construct physical elements into commonly insightful visualisations. Like all participatory processes, PDP is however influenced by underlying power dynamics that might lead to issues regarding extractive participation, marginalisation, or exclusion, among others. We first identified the decisions behind these power dynamics by developing an ontology that synthesises critical theoretical insights from both visualisation and participatory design research, which were then systematically applied unto a representative corpus of 23 PDP artefacts. By revealing how shared decisions are guided by different agendas, this paper presents three contributions: 1) a cross-disciplinary ontology that facilitates the systematic analysis of existing and novel PDP artefacts and processes; which leads to 2) six PDP agendas that reflect the key power dynamics in current PDP practice, revealing the diversity of orientations towards stakeholder participation in PDP practice; and 3) a set of critical considerations that should guide how power dynamics can be balanced, such as by reflecting on how issues are represented, data is contextualised, participants express their meanings, and how participants can dissent with flexible artefact construction. Consequently, this study advances a feminist research agenda by guiding researchers and practitioners in openly reflecting on and sharing responsibilities in data physicalisation and participatory data visualisation.
... Situating interactive data visualisations in a real public environment has been recognised as a way to reach a varied audience with data Perovich, Wylie, and Bongiovanni 2020;Willett, Jansen, and Dragicevic 2017). Its inherent capacity to spontaneously capture the attention of passersby has contributed to their efficacy (Bressa et al. 2022). Additionally, the physical environment facilitates a sensory engagement with data (e.g. ...
... Here, narrative physicalisations may learn from other informational designs that are made for public spaces, such as situated visualisations. They provide a way to bring data to their context of use, to places and people by connecting data with the physical environment (e.g. through a public display or a data sculpture) or other physical referents (e.g. via Augmented Reality (AR)) the data refers to Bressa et al. (2022), Claes and Moere (2017), White andFeiner (2009), Willett, Jansen, andDragicevic (2017). Researchers have examined how to leverage tempo-spatial qualities as part of sequential storytelling, such as in AR (Shin and Woo 2023) or on public displays (Claes and Moere 2017). ...
... Researchers have examined how to leverage tempo-spatial qualities as part of sequential storytelling, such as in AR (Shin and Woo 2023) or on public displays (Claes and Moere 2017). Examples of situating representations of science data are less frequent and most examples are bound to AR (Bressa et al. 2022), which does not allow for spontaneous encounters with data as you need to purposefully take out a smartphone to experience it. An exception is Econundrum, which successfully translates (personal) citizen-generated data about dietary choices into an interactive situated physicalisation about sustainability (Sauvé, Bakker, and Houben 2020). ...
... As highlighted by Sauve et al. [83], there is limited work on data physicalizations that explore visualizing the data of physically co-located communities [6,25,47,53,58,60,77]. Researchers have discussed the concept of "situatedness" with data physicalizations [3,12], where the data is presented for interpretation in the location or environment that the data relates to. The goal with situatedness is to connect people with the places and spaces they inhabit to encourage reflection and greater understanding [12]. ...
... Researchers have discussed the concept of "situatedness" with data physicalizations [3,12], where the data is presented for interpretation in the location or environment that the data relates to. The goal with situatedness is to connect people with the places and spaces they inhabit to encourage reflection and greater understanding [12]. Researchers have also explored adding qualitative context to quantitative data physicalizations to help individuals further reflect and interpret the data [40]. ...
... In our case participants wanted to know that each person created a row, and that the colours represented months of time, and that, for example, July was represented with a specific shade of blue. This furthers previous research that discussed the importance of making "situatedness" more obvious with data physicalizations so that individuals can understand the relation and connection to the space [3,12]. ...
Innovations in digital fabrication technologies are increasingly
enabling artists and designers to create data physicalizations in real time. In this paper, we discuss how we adapted a circular knitting machine to physicalize visitors at a local art gallery during the pandemic recovery year. To evaluate this year-long installation, we conducted design critiques with 15 individuals including those who worked in the building and lived alongside it for a year, as well as subject matter experts. We then iteratively worked with 11 of those individuals to gain insights for re-deploying the visualization for interpretation. Overall, this paper contributes long-term reflections and recommendations for using digital fabrication for real-time data physicalizations.
... In a survey by Bressa et al. [6], these two definitions for situated visualisation are stated to be the most prevalent definitions of situated visualisations in literature. Furthermore, the authors also mention the relevance of Situated Analytics [13](SitA) which is used to encompass the fields of situated visualisation and Immersive Analytics(IA). ...
... With work still being done on the guidelines and categorisation in the field of situated visualisation as shown by Lee et al. [23], there still exists numerous scientific hurdles to tackle such as a solid foundational knowledge and taxonomy encompassing the whole topic (mentioned by Lee et al. and other recent surveys [6,37,39]). These newly defined taxonomies also need accompanying performance analysis to demonstrate their usage of which we contribute to with this article. ...
One huge advantage of Augmented Reality (AR) is its numerous possibilities of displaying information in the physical world, especially when applying Situated Analytics (SitA). AR devices and their respective interaction techniques allow for supplementary guidance to assist an operator carrying out complex procedures such as medical diagnosis and surgery, for instance. Their usage promotes user autonomy by presenting relevant information when the operator may not necessarily possess expert knowledge of every procedure and may also not have access to external help such as in a remote or isolated situation (e.g., International Space Station, middle of an ocean, desert).In this paper, we propose a comparison of two different forms of AR visualisation: An embedded visualisation and a situated projected visualisation, with the aim to assist operators with the most appropriate visualisation format when carrying out procedures (medical in our case). To evaluate these forms of visualisation, we carried out an experiment involving 23 participants possessing latent/novice medical knowledge. These participant profiles were representative of operators who are medically trained yet do not apply their knowledge every day (e.g., an astronaut in orbit or a sailor out at sea). We discuss our findings which include the advantages of embedded visualised information in terms of precision compared to situated projected information with the accompanying limitations in addition to future improvements to our proposition. We conclude with the prospects of our work, notably the continuation and possibility of evaluating our proposition in a less controlled and real context in collaboration with our national space agency.
... A escolha de um método apropriado para a visualização dos dados do sensor é importante, pois pode ajudar os usuários a entender intuitivamente e trabalhar com os dados de maneira mais rápida e fácil (BRESSA et al., 2021). Convencionalmente, as técnicas de visualização estática são usadas para interpretar o significado dos dados capturados, transformando os dados em várias formas gráficas (por exemplo, gráficos de linhas, gráficos, gráficos de barras, gráficos de dispersão e mapas). ...
... Essa é a etapa final do projeto e serve para trazer o objetivo proposto do projeto, que é a aplicação de um ambiente virtual 3D. A aplicação da realidade aumentada tem aplicações em diversas áreas de IoT e usam essa tecnologia para visualização de dados em tempo real no ambiente em caso de estudo (BRESSA et al.,2021). ...
Currently, interest in exploring the Internet of Things (IoT) in building installations and in the management of contexts, such as temperature, lighting, etc., has grown. However, the data generated by IoT agents are presented as elements that are not attractive to a less technical audience, such as building supervisors. Thus, this paper proposes the development of a layer for manipulation and visualization of data from thermal sensors of an indoor environment in a virtual representation. The methodology applied in this research is the construction of BIM (Building Information Modeling) models to be represented in a 3D virtual reality environment. The results showed that the system can help users to monitor in real time the thermal comfort conditions of indoor installations.
... as distance and height, which are often abstracted away in data visualization [43]. Given these and other benefits like situatedness [10,66], several researchers have recently explored what we would summarize as immersive data-driven storytelling, which is the process of conveying data-supported insights and findings in the form of a visualization-based narrative in an interactive immersive environment (e.g., [23,31,49]). Compared to general data storytelling described in detail in the literature (e.g., [44,61,68]), there are only scattered solutions to the design of data stories in immersive environments. ...
... The emergence of this field has led to a renewed interest in 3D and mixed-reality visualizations. Several surveys on IA and related fields have been published (e.g., [10,66]). In addition, Saffo et al. [60] proposed a comprehensive design space for IA. ...
In recent years, data-driven stories have found a firm footing in journalism, business, and education. They leverage visualization and storytelling to convey information to broader audiences. Likewise, immersive technologies, like augmented and virtual reality devices, provide excellent potential for exploring and explaining data, thus inviting research on how data-driven storytelling transfers to immersive environments. To gain a better understanding of this exciting novel research area, we conducted a scoping review on the emerging notion of immersive data-driven storytelling , extended by surveying immersive data journalism and by analyzing immersive games, selected based on community reviews and tags. We present our methodology for the survey and discuss prominent themes that coalesce the knowledge we extracted from the literature, journalism, and games. These themes include, among others, the spatial embodiment of narration, the incorporation of the users and their context into narratives, and the balance between guiding the user versus promoting serendipity. Our discussion of these themes reveals research opportunities and challenges that will inform the design of immersive data-driven stories in the future.
... Thus, we recognise context not solely from a viewpoint of spatial organisation and its corresponding objects, but also in consideration of the social dynamics present within the space and within human activities [9]. Context is situational, thus it is essential to consider what is relevant in each circumstance [8]. Humans create the situation and make sense of their surroundings through their actions and social interactions [8]. ...
... Context is situational, thus it is essential to consider what is relevant in each circumstance [8]. Humans create the situation and make sense of their surroundings through their actions and social interactions [8]. ...
The field of spatial computing is attracting increasing attention. Despite this, aspects related to user experience and evaluation methods are not yet established. The current state of the art in UX and UX evaluation needs to be extended to include aspects that are usually not considered when interacting with mobile or desktop applications.
In spatial computing, devices are aware of 3-dimensional physical space and enable human actions with spatial meaning. However, it is important that applications consider not only the user’s environment from a spatial perspective, but also other relevant contextual aspects such as the emotions of a place, the surrounding community, and the broader goals of the activity. This approach provides a new perspective and is complementary to the current state of the art.
This paper presents three examples of applications in spatial computing and demonstrates the potential aspects to be considered in the context of the experience and how the interaction could be evaluated, using an open-ended interpretive methodology. It explores methods and aspects relevant to spatial computing, highlighting opportunities and tools for evaluating the user experience. This encourages a more comprehensive approach and allows to analyse a situation holistically. The results indicate that while methods and considerations exist, there is currently no coherent methodology that integrates all relevant aspects. This finding may provide the basis for a new perspective on spatial computing and highlights the great potential of this technology to provide exceptional user experiences.
... According to White & Feiner, this term refers to "a visualization that is related to and displayed in its environment" (White & Feiner 2009). Other authors expand the definition by taking into account that the place of visualization must have relevance for people (Bressa et al. 2022). Situatedness incorporates the contextual, local and social environment (Huber et al. 2023). ...
... Projects using situated visualizations use a variety of technologies, data sets, methods and visualization styles (e.g. artistic, physical) (Bressa et al. 2022 (Behrens et al. 2014, Claes et al. 2018, Koeman et al. 2014, Steinberger et al. 2014 or facilitating user-created content (Claes et al. 2018, Fischer & Hornecker 2012. Situated visualizations are considered to be highly relevant in dealing with digital information, as they provide users of urban (digital) services with a detailed overview and, as a result, enable better decisions (Martins et al. 2023). ...
... Only two stories refine the TIDAL concept, and seven of nine co-constructed stories proposed using other existing facilities or adding installation in the street view to present data physicalization. And we found all the participants' sketch echoes the broad definition of situated visualization, which are related to and displayed in its environment (Bressa et al. 2021). For example, P6 argued that using the display in the physical space to dynamically show the digital artwork generated by running data also could be a solution. ...
... Besides physicalization and display, immersive technology AR have been frequently used to show situated (Bressa et al. 2021). AR has the ability to superimpose the virtual medal on the ground, which can easily realize the concept of TIDAL without construction on the ground. ...
Representing fitness-related data physically can better help people gain awareness and reflect on their physical activity behavior. However, there has been limited research conducted on the impact of physicalizing personal data in a public context, particularly regarding its effect on motivations for physical activity. Augmenting the physical environment with interactive technology holds great promise in facilitating outdoor physical activity. To explore the design space of data physicalization-based interactive environments, we created TIDAL, a design concept that provides physical rewards in the form of tiles on the road to acknowledge runners’ goal achievements. We created a video prototype as a probe to gather insights through semi-structured interviews with six recreational runners to evaluate TIDAL. The co-constructing stories method, a participatory design technique, was employed during these interviews to facilitate qualitative evaluation. The results of our study showed that TIDAL has the potential to increase runners’ motivation. We reported the key insights derived from participants’ feedback and co-constructed stories and discussed the broader implications of our work.
... This process results in a physical artefact [30] that allows cognitive understanding of data [29], making data interpretable as the physical representation engages multiple senses [23] and is experienced with the entire human body [24]. This approach has already been used to collect and modify data on activities [44], habits [15] or preferences [51], thus we believe it will allow office workers to create meaning from personal experiences [28]; to align these meanings with others [20]; and to enrich these meanings with details about the social and physical context where they are situated [5]. ...
The environmental comfort in offices is traditionally captured by surveying an entire workforce simultaneously, which yet fails to capture the situatedness of the different personal experiences. To address this limitation, we developed the EnviroMapper Toolkit, a data physicalisation toolkit that allows individual office workers to record their personal experiences of environmental comfort by mapping the actual moments and locations these occurred. By analysing two in-the-wild studies in existing open-plan office environments (N=14), we demonstrate how this toolkit acts like a situated input visualisation that can be interpreted by domain experts who were not present during its construction. This study therefore offers four key contributions: (1) the iterative design process of the physicalisation toolkit; (2) its preliminary deployment in two real-world office contexts; (3) the decoding of the resulting artefacts by domain experts; and (4) design considerations to support future input physicalisation and visualisation constructions that capture and synthesise data from multiple individuals.
... Rather than focusing almost exclusively on mitigating biases, researchers may benefit from adopting alternative perspectives that recognize the value of heuristics in complex environments. This is particularly important as visualization researchers are becoming more focused on the role of context and the environment in data analytics and visualization (e.g., [3,12,34]). Recognizing that heuristics can be ecologically rational in action-while appearing to be biases in a lab setting-is critically important for the study of situated visualization initiatives. ...
Research on cognitive biases and heuristics has become increasingly popular in the visualization literature in recent years. Researchers have studied the effects of biases on visualization interpretation and subsequent decision-making. While this work is important, we contend that the view on biases has presented human cognitive abilities in an unbalanced manner, placing too much emphasis on the flaws and limitations of human decision-making, and potentially suggesting that it should not be trusted. Several decision researchers have argued that the flip side of biases -- i.e., mental shortcuts or heuristics -- demonstrate human ingenuity and serve as core markers of adaptive expertise. In this paper, we review the perspectives and sentiments of the visualization community on biases and describe literature arguing for more balanced views of biases and heuristics. We hope this paper will encourage visualization researchers to consider a fuller picture of human cognitive limitations and strategies for making decisions in complex environments.
... However, our collaboration with VR/AR researchers made us realize that our process also helps identify narrative elements that are essential for narratives regardless of the target medium. For example, the visualization techniques described in the process can be used in stories for locative storytelling [24] or situated visualizations [6] in virtual settings. ...
... However, many aspects of solar energy remain unfamiliar to learners, as the technical processes are often invisible and challenging to explain. Situated visualization places data visualizations in their relevant environments, linking data to the physical locations or entities they represent [7]. Incorporating AR for situating educational visualizations is an increasingly popular approach, empirically shown to improve both the "learning gains" and "motivation" of students [16]. ...
The rapid growth of the solar energy industry requires advanced educational tools to train the next generation of engineers and technicians. We present a novel system for situated visualization of photovoltaic (PV) module performance, leveraging a combination of PV simulation, sun-sky position, and head-mounted augmented reality (AR). Our system is guided by four principles of development: simplicity, adaptability, collaboration, and maintainability, realized in six components. Users interactively manipulate a physical module’s orientation and shading referents with immediate feedback on the module’s performance.
... 2) Visual data harvested through empirical investigations. Contrary to a machine-centric approach leveraging statistics and algorithms for data processing, data visualization has witnessed a paradigm shift towards a humancentric focus, accentuating the perceptual and interactive facets with individuals and societal contexts (e.g., situated visualization and input visualization [6,7,17,27]). Empirical inquiries channel qualitative research to fathom subjective feedback, and delineate challenges by scrutinizing the process entailed in the work practices or experience with visualizations, through observation [13,29]. Innovations in design study methodologies have emerged, drawing inspiration from qualitative methods inherent in ethnography, and action research, encompassing observational techniques like fly-on-the-wall [23]. ...
... Traditional visualization approaches often present data in abstract, detached formats that can seem disconnected from daily experiences. In contrast, presenting data in situ minimizes spatial indirection and enhances the data's relevance to its immediate context [7]. Prior research indicates that situated data physicalization can enhance engagement and foster community ownership [36]. ...
The urgency of climate change is now recognized globally. As humanity confronts the critical need to mitigate climate change and foster sustainability, data visualization emerges as a powerful tool with a unique capacity to communicate insights crucial for understanding environmental complexities. This paper explores the critical need for designing and investigating responsible data visualization that can act as a catalyst for engaging communities within global climate action and sustainability efforts. Grounded in prior work and reflecting on a decade of community engagement research, I propose five critical considerations: (1) inclusive and accessible visualizations for enhancing climate education and communication, (2) interactive visualizations for fostering agency and deepening engagement, (3) in-situ visualizations for reducing spatial indirection, (4) shared immersive experiences for catalyzing collective action, and (5) accurate, transparent, and credible visualizations for ensuring trust and integrity. These considerations offer strategies and new directions for visualization research, aiming to enhance community engagement, deepen involvement, and foster collective action on critical socio-technical including and beyond climate change.
... Situated visualization in AR. To connect our motion map data with the real environment, we employ situated visualization [43,71,72], a concept of presenting data in the physical environment they refer to -a recent review can be found in [8]. Situated visualizations can be implemented through either AR [21], or ambient displays [9]; here we use AR-based situated visualization as it provides the spatial resolution we require for our map data, and is a convenient interface for designers already working with AR. ...
Augmented reality (AR) platforms now support persistent, markerless experiences, in which virtual content appears in the same place relative to the real world, across multiple devices and sessions. However, optimizing environments for these experiences remains challenging; virtual content stability is determined by the performance of device pose tracking, which depends on recognizable environment features, but environment texture can impair human perception of virtual content. Low-contrast 'invisible textures' have recently been proposed as a solution, but may result in poor tracking performance when combined with dynamic device motion. Here, we examine the use of invisible textures in detail, starting with the first evaluation in a realistic AR scenario. We then consider scenarios with more dynamic device motion, and conduct extensive game engine-based experiments to develop a method for optimizing invisible textures. For texture optimization in real environments, we introduce MoMAR, the first system to analyze motion data from multiple AR users, which generates guidance using situated visualizations. We show that MoMAR can be deployed while maintaining an average frame rate > 59fps, for five different devices. We demonstrate the use of MoMAR in a realistic case study; our optimized environment texture allowed users to complete a task significantly faster (p=0.003) than a complex texture.
... The effort required to identify taxa in a taxonomy or an entity in an ontology is very similar to coding in GT, while determining hierarchical and ontological relations is a form of theorization. Examples of such papers include [11], [16], [72], [2]. ...
Grounded theory (GT) is a research methodology that entails a systematic workflow for theory generation grounded on emergent data. In this paper, we juxtapose GT workflows with typical workflows in visualization and visual analytics (VIS), unveiling the characteristics shared by these workflows. We explore the research landscape of VIS to study where GT is applied to generate VIS theories, explicitly as well as implicitly. We discuss “why” GT can potentially play a significant role in VIS. We outline a “how” methodology for conducting GT research in VIS, which addresses the need for theoretical advancement in VIS while benefiting from other methods and techniques in VIS. We illustrate this “how” methodology with a use case of adopting GT approaches in studying visualization guidelines.
... Situated visualization in AR. To connect our motion map data with the real environment, we employ situated visualization [43,71,72], a concept of presenting data in the physical environment they refer to -a recent review can be found in [8]. Situated visualizations can be implemented through either AR [21], or ambient displays [9]; here we use AR-based situated visualization as it provides the spatial resolution we require for our map data, and is a convenient interface for designers already working with AR. ...
Augmented reality (AR) platforms now support persistent, markerless experiences, in which virtual content appears in the same place relative to the real world, across multiple devices and sessions. However, optimizing environments for these
experiences remains challenging; virtual content stability is determined by the performance of device pose tracking, which depends on recognizable environment features, but environment texture can impair human perception of virtual content.
Low-contrast ‘invisible textures’ have recently been proposed as a solution, but may result in poor tracking performance when combined with dynamic device motion. Here, we examine the use of invisible textures in detail, starting with the first
evaluation in a realistic AR scenario. We then consider scenarios with more dynamic device motion, and conduct extensive game engine-based experiments to develop a method for optimizing invisible textures. For texture optimization in real environments, we introduce MoMAR, the first system to analyze motion data from multiple AR users, which generates guidance using situated visualizations. We show that MoMAR can be deployed while maintaining an average frame rate > 59fps, for five different devices. We demonstrate the use of MoMAR in a realistic case study; our optimized environment texture allowed users to complete a task significantly faster (p=0.003) than a complex texture.
... 2) Visual data harvested through empirical investigations. Contrary to a machine-centric approach leveraging statistics and algorithms for data processing, data visualization has witnessed a paradigm shift towards a human-centric focus, accentuating the perceptual and interactive facets with individuals and societal contexts (e.g., situated visualization and input visualization [6,7,17,27]). Empirical inquiries channel qualitative research to fathom subjective feedback, and delineate challenges by scrutinizing the process entailed in the work practices or experience with visualizations, through observation [13,29]. Innovations in design study methodologies have emerged, drawing inspiration from qualitative methods inherent in ethnography, and action research, encompassing observational techniques like fly-on-the-wall [23]. ...
Visual methods have become increasingly vital in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research, particularly as we analyze and interpret the complex visual data that emerges from various interaction modalities. However, the methodologies for analyzing this visual data remain underdeveloped compared to textual data analysis. This workshop seeks to unite HCI researchers who work with visual data—such as hand sketches, photographs, physical artifacts, UI screenshots, videos, and information visualizations—to establish a collection of methods, exchange strategies, and delve into the challenges and opportunities of visual data analysis in HCI.
... An increasing number of visualizations are being presented to and serving the general public rather than solely expert users. They are now found in diverse settings such as news media publications [44,69], advertisements [42], outdoor installations [17,43], and personal devices [34]. Given this trend, a lot of user studies have been conducted with the general public to understand their experience with data. ...
The visualization community has a rich history of reflecting upon flaws of visualization design, and research in this direction has remained lively until now. However, three main gaps still exist. First, most existing work characterizes design flaws from the perspective of researchers rather than the perspective of general users. Second, little work has been done to infer why these design flaws occur. Third, due to problems such as unclear terminology and ambiguous research scope, a better framework that systematically outlines various design flaws and helps distinguish different types of flaws is desired. To address the above gaps, this work investigated visualization design flaws through the lens of the public, constructed a framework to summarize and categorize the identified flaws, and explored why these flaws occur. Specifically, we analyzed 2227 flawed data visualizations collected from an online gallery and derived a design task-associated taxonomy containing 76 specific design flaws. These flaws were further classified into three high-level categories (i.e., misinformation, uninformativeness, unsociableness) and ten subcategories (e.g., inaccuracy, unfairness, ambiguity). Next, we organized five focus groups to explore why these design flaws occur and identified seven causes of the flaws. Finally, we proposed a set of reflections and implications arising from the research.
... After the insertion, the user can move the text note to a different location within the document by finger-tapping (Figure 4.20b). Situated visualizations (SV) and reality-based information retrieval systems aim at superimposing context-based digital information to real-world entities, such as food, people, buildings, photos [46,44,232]. Considering the advancements and affordability of AR, SV becomes viable in several domains, providing information regarding physical objects, and chaperoning a user through a specific process (e.g., learning, making a choice). ...
Despite the “Metaverse” being a fairly recent inclusion in scholars’ vocabulary,
technologies needed to allow its creation and enable its use cases are
now approaching their maturity. In the Metaverse, eXtended Reality (XR)
covers the fundamental role of providing natural and ergonomic ways to visualize
and manipulate the elements in such a digital layer. However, the
rapid development of Metaverse use cases is also driven by advancements in
other disciplines, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchains, and the Internet
of Things. In particular, XR and AI are jointly defining a new body of
research at their intersection, here named “Extended Artificial Intelligence”,
that has potentially far-reaching effects on sectors like industrial production,
health care, fitness, archival, creativity, and cultural heritage. With the “Extended
Artificial Intelligence”, we could envision an entire digital world, that
could define new ways of living, by supporting humans in their everyday activities.
Hence, it becomes fundamental to study how XR and AI should be
orchestrated and composed, from both an academic and industrial perspective,
to support humans in every aspect of their lives. In such a research
space, this thesis focuses on studying those dynamics in different use cases
regarding three fields of study: Cultural Heritage, Creative industries, and
Industrial production.
... This representation is carried out in the form of virtual elements integrated into or superimposed directly on the object being observed [23,24] (or on a virtual representation of that object [10]). The theme of situated visualization has been the focus of multiple research works in recent years [25][26][27][28]. ElSayed et al. [29,30] addressed how AR technologies could be used for situated analysis in applications where data embedded in the physical environment were relevant. ...
Dam safety control is a multifaceted activity that requires analysis, monitoring, and structural behavior prediction. It entails interpreting vast amounts of data from sensor networks integrated into dam structures. The application of extended reality technologies for situated immersive analysis allows data to be contextualized directly over the physical referent. Such types of visual contextualization have been known to improve analytical reasoning and decision making. This study presents DamVR, a virtual reality tool for off-site, proxied situated structural sensor data visualization. In addition to describing the tool’s features, it evaluates usability and usefulness with a group of 22 domain experts. It also compares its performance with an existing augmented reality tool for the on-site, immediate situated visualization of structural data. Participant responses to a survey reflect a positive assessment of the proxied situated approach’s usability and usefulness. This approach shows a decrease in performance (task completion time and errors) for more complex tasks but no significant differences in user experience scores when compared to the immediate situated approach. The findings indicate that while results may depend strongly on factors such as the realism of the virtual environment, the immediate physical referent offered some advantages over the proxied one in the contextualization of data.
... With HMD AR, it is possible to display the necessary information in the user's field of view, with the advantage of hand free and it can be situated concerning the physical phenomena (Bressa et al. 2022); ...
The wind has been a natural and renewable resource used for professional and recreational maritime transportation of small and large vessels since human history. Sailing is making a comeback due to the growing focus on sustainability, accelerated by the recent global energy crisis. Seafarers rely on wind and bearing angle visualization to navigate efficiently and safely, thanks to the use of sensors and compasses. This paper focuses on Augmented Reality in Head-Mounted Displays visualization of wind and bearing angle data. We analyzed the literature and generated a heatmap of the used areas in the user’s field of view. Second, we designed and implemented two interfaces that use two different visualization techniques: Boat Stabilized (BS) and Head Stabilized (HS). We compared them in between the subject experiment (N = 44), using a simulated Virtual Reality simulator of the sailing scenario. The user’s primary task is wind events recognition, while obstacles (buoys) detection is secondary. We measured both task errors and reaction time, and submit NASA RTLX, SUS, UEQ, and visive auditive and kinesthetic (VAK) questionnaires. We found that BS has a significantly lower reaction time and better usability in the primary and secondary tasks. Both visualization techniques have similar users perceived cognitive load and user experience evaluation. VAK test showed that BS is better for kinaesthetic types and HS is better for visual types.
We define visualization in motion and make several contributions to how to visualize and design situated visualizations in motion. In situated data visualization, the data are directly visualized near their data referent (i.e., the physical space, object, or person it refers to) (Bressa et al., 2022). Situated visualizations are often useful in contexts where the data referent or the viewer does not remain stationary but is in relative motion. For example, a runner looks at visualizations from their fitness band while running. Reading visualizations in such scenarios might be impacted by motion factors. As such, understanding how to best design visualizations with motion factors is important. We define visualizations in motion as visual data representations used in contexts that exhibit relative motion between a viewer and an entire visualization. We propose a research agenda to understand what research opportunities and challenges are under visualization in motion (Yao et al., 2022). Next, we investigate (a) how motion factors can affect the reading accuracy of visualizations (Yao et al., 2022), (b) how to design and embed visualizations in motion in a real application scenario (Yao et al., 2024), and (c) the user experience and design tradeoffs of visualization in motion through a case study (Yao et al., 2024).
We present a systematic review, an empirical study, and a first set of considerations for designing visualizations in motion, derived from a concrete scenario in which these visualizations were used to support a primary task. In practice, when viewers are confronted with embedded visualizations, they often have to focus on a primary task and can only quickly glance at a visualization showing rich, often dynamically updated, information. As such, the visualizations must be designed so as not to distract from the primary task, while at the same time being readable and useful for aiding the primary task. For example, in games, players who are engaged in a battle have to look at their enemies but also read the remaining health of their own game character from the health bar over their character's head. Many trade-offs are possible in the design of embedded visualizations in such dynamic scenarios, which we explore in-depth in this paper with a focus on user experience. We use video games as an example of an application context with a rich existing set of visualizations in motion. We begin our work with a systematic review of in-game visualizations in motion. Next, we conduct an empirical user study to investigate how different embedded visualizations in motion designs impact user experience. We conclude with a set of considerations and trade-offs for designing visualizations in motion more broadly as derived from what we learned about video games. All supplemental materials of this paper are available at osf.io/3v8wm/.
The visualization community has a rich history of reflecting upon visualization design flaws. Although research in this area has remained lively, we believe it is essential to continuously revisit this classic and critical topic in visualization research by incorporating more empirical evidence from diverse sources, characterizing new design flaws, building more systematic theoretical frameworks, and understanding the underlying reasons for these flaws. To address the above gaps, this work investigated visualization design flaws through the lens of the public, constructed a framework to summarize and categorize the identified flaws, and explored why these flaws occur. Specifically, we analyzed 2227 flawed data visualizations collected from an online gallery and derived a design task-associated taxonomy containing 76 specific design flaws. These flaws were further classified into three high-level categories (i.e., misinformation, uninformativeness, unsociability) and ten subcategories (e.g., inaccuracy, unfairness, ambiguity). Next, we organized five focus groups to explore why these design flaws occur and identified seven causes of the flaws. Finally, we proposed a research agenda for combating visualization design flaws and summarize nine research opportunities.
We present a systematic review, an empirical study, and a first set of considerations for designing visualizations in motion, derived from a concrete scenario in which these visualizations were used to support a primary task. In practice, when viewers are confronted with embedded visualizations, they often have to focus on a primary task and can only quickly glance at a visualization showing rich, often dynamically updated, information. As such, the visualizations must be designed so as not to distract from the primary task, while at the same time being readable and useful for aiding the primary task. For example, in games, players who are engaged in a battle have to look at their enemies but also read the remaining health of their own game character from the health bar over their character's head. Many trade-offs are possible in the design of embedded visualizations in such dynamic scenarios, which we explore in-depth in this paper with a focus on user experience. We use video games as an example of an application context with a rich existing set of visualizations in motion. We begin our work with a systematic review of in-game visualizations in motion. Next, we conduct an empirical user study to investigate how different embedded visualizations in motion designs impact user experience. We conclude with a set of considerations and trade-offs for designing visualizations in motion more broadly as derived from what we learned about video games. All supplemental materials of this paper are available at https://osf.io/3v8wm/}.
Brushing and linking is widely used for visual analytics in desktop environments. However, using this approach to link many data items between situated (e.g., a virtual screen with data) and embedded views (e.g., highlighted objects in the physical environment) is largely unexplored. To this end, we study the effectiveness of visual highlighting techniques in helping users identify and link physical referents to brushed data marks in a situated scatterplot. In an exploratory virtual reality user study (N=20), we evaluated four highlighting techniques under different physical layouts and tasks. We discuss the effectiveness of these techniques, as well as implications for the design of brushing and linking operations in situated analytics.
The negative impact humans have on the environment is partly caused by thoughtless consumption leading to unnecessary waste. A likely contributing factor is the relative invisibility of waste: waste produced by individuals is either out of their sight or quickly taken away. Nevertheless, waste disposal systems sometimes break down, creating natural information displays of waste production that can have educational value. We take inspiration from such natural displays and introduce a class of situated visualizations we call augmented-reality waste accumulation visualizations or ARwav s, which are literal representations of waste data embedded in users’ familiar environment. We implemented examples of ARwav s and demonstrated them in feedback sessions with experts in pro-environmental behavior, and during a large tech exhibition event. We discuss general design considerations for ARwav s. Finally, we conducted a study with 20 participants suggesting that ARwav s yield stronger emotional responses than non-immersive waste accumulation visualizations and plain numbers.
An invisible layer of knowledge is progressively growing with the emergence of situated visualizations and reality-based information retrieval systems. In essence, digital content will overlap with real-world entities, eventually providing insights into the surrounding environment and useful information for the user. The implementation of such a vision may appear close, but many subtle details separate us from its fulfillment. This kind of implementation, as the overlap between rendered virtual annotations and the camera’s real-world view, requires different computer vision paradigms for object recognition and tracking which often require high computing power and large-scale datasets of images. Nevertheless, these resources are not always available, and in some specific domains, the lack of an appropriate reference dataset could be disruptive for a considered task. In this particular scenario, we here consider the problem of wine recognition to support an augmented reading of their labels. In fact, images of wine bottle labels may not be available as wineries periodically change their designs, product information regulations may vary, and specific bottles may be rare, making the label recognition process hard or even impossible. In this work, we present augmented wine recognition, an augmented reality system that exploits optical character recognition paradigms to interpret and exploit the text within a wine label, without requiring any reference image. Our experiments show that such a framework can overcome the limitations posed by image retrieval-based systems while exhibiting a comparable performance.
Situated visualization has become an increasingly popular research area in the visualization community, fueled by advancements in augmented reality (AR) technology and immersive analytics. Visualizing data in spatial proximity to their physical referents affords new design opportunities and considerations not present in traditional visualization, which researchers are now beginning to explore. However, the AR research community has an extensive history of designing graphics that are displayed in highly physical contexts. In this work, we leverage the richness of AR research and apply it to situated visualization. We derive design patterns which summarize common approaches of visualizing data in situ. The design patterns are based on a survey of 293 papers published in the AR and visualization communities, as well as our own expertise. We discuss design dimensions that help to describe both our patterns and previous work in the literature. This discussion is accompanied by several guidelines which explain how to apply the patterns given the constraints imposed by the real world. We conclude by discussing future research directions that will help establish a complete understanding of the design of situated visualization, including the role of interactivity, tasks, and workflows.
Immersive Analytics is a quickly evolving field that unites several areas such as visualisation, immersive environments, and human-computer interaction to support human data analysis with emerging technologies. This research has thrived over the past years with multiple workshops, seminars, and a growing body of publications, spanning several conferences. Given the rapid advancement of interaction technologies and novel application domains, this paper aims toward a broader research agenda to enable widespread adoption. We present 17 key research challenges developed over multiple sessions by a diverse group of 24 international experts, initiated from a virtual scientific workshop at ACM CHI 2020. These challenges aim to coordinate future work by providing a systematic roadmap of current directions and impending hurdles to facilitate productive and effective applications for Immersive Analytics.
We present an observational study to compare co-located and situated real-time visualizations in basketball free-throw training. Our goal is to understand the advantages and concerns of applying immersive visualization to real-world skill-based sports training and to provide insights for designing AR sports training systems. We design both a situated 3D visualization on a head-mounted display and a 2D visualization on a co-located display to provide immediate visual feedback on a player's shot performance. Using a within-subject study design with experienced basketball shooters, we characterize user goals, report on qualitative training experiences, and compare the quantitative training results. Our results show that real-time visual feedback helps athletes refine subsequent shots. Shooters in our study achieve greater angle consistency with our visual feedback. Furthermore, AR visualization promotes an increased focus on body form in athletes. Finally, we present suggestions for the design of future sports AR studies.
Ubiquitous, situated, and physical visualizations create entirely new possibilities for tasks contextualized in the real world, such as doctors inserting needles. During the development of situated visualizations, evaluating visualizations is a core requirement. However, performing such evaluations is intrinsically hard as the real scenarios are safety-critical or expensive to test. To overcome these issues, researchers and practitioners adapt classical approaches from ubiquitous computing and use surrogate empirical methods such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) prototypes, or merely online demonstrations. This approach's primary assumption is that meaningful insights can also be gained from different, usually cheaper and less cumbersome empirical methods. Nevertheless, recent efforts in the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community have found evidence against this assumption, which would impede the use of surrogate empirical methods. Currently, these insights rely on a single investigation of four interactive objects. The goal of this work is to investigate if these prior findings also hold for situated visualizations. Therefore, we first created a scenario where situated visualizations support users in do-it-yourself (DIY) tasks such as crafting and assembly. We then set up five empirical study methods to evaluate the four tasks using an online survey, as well as VR, AR, laboratory, and in-situ studies. Using this study design, we conducted a new study with 60 participants. Our results show that the situated visualizations we investigated in this study are not prone to the same dependency on the empirical method, as found in previous work. Our study provides the first evidence that analyzing situated visualizations through different empirical (surrogate) methods might lead to comparable results.
Whenever accessing indoor spaces such as classrooms or auditoriums , people might attempt to analyze and choose an appropriate place to stay while attending an event. Several criteria may be accounted for, and most are not always self-evident or trivial. This work proposes the use of data visualization allied to an Augmented Reality (AR) user interface to help users defining the most convenient seats to take. We consider sets of arbitrary demands and project information directly atop the seats and all around the room. Users can also narrow down the search by switching and combining the attributes being displayed, e.g., temperature, wheelchair accessibility. The proposed approach was tested against a comparable 2D interactive visualization of the same data in usability assessments of seat-choosing tasks with a set of users (N = 16) to validate the solution. Qualitative and quantitative data indicated that the AR-based solution is promising, suggesting that AR may help users make more accurate decisions, even in an ordinary daily task. Regarding Augmented Situated Visualization, our results open new avenues for the exploration of context-aware data.
Augmented reality (AR) enables to display situated geographical visualizations, i.e visualizations that use virtual elements that are displayed in a geographical location. The place where the data is displayed complements the visualization. Many applications that take advantage of AR and situated visualizations exist, but they differ in the visualizations they present, their relationship to the geographic locations and goals. To better understand why and how AR based situated geovisualization is used, we review 45 papers coming from Human Computer Interaction, Visualization and Geographical Information Science venues that present such applications. Inspired by existing classifications, we characterize these papers according to the data they visualize and the geographical distance between the visualization and the data the visualization represents. This analysis reveals existing opportunities for situated geovisualization applications using AR.
Augmented reality (AR) enables the creation of immersive situated visualizations. These visualizations blend with the real world so that the user perceives the virtual objects as physically present. We propose two novel immersive situated visualizations for geospatial quantitative point data that link AR bar graphics in the real environment with a virtual AR chart or map. The Egocentric Bar Chart combines virtual bars placed in a real landscape with a virtual 360° bar chart arranged around the user. The Circular Map with Bars combines bars in a real landscape with a 360° virtual map showing bar graphics. These visualizations are designed for inspecting the location and attributes of individual points, as well as understanding the spatial and non-spatial patterns of a set of points. We conducted a study with 12 participants to evaluate reading accuracy and efficiency of the two visualizations, with a view from a skyscraper at the center of the Melbourne metropolitan area. To better control confounding factors, the study used a virtual environment instead of an AR setup. We found that the two suggested visualizations performed better than bars placed in a landscape, and received positive feedback from study participants. The Egocentric Bar Chart visualization was most accurate when estimating and comparing values, and we identified promising improvements for the Circular Map with Bars visualization. Our results demonstrate the potential of AR technology for the communication of geospatial point data with immersive situated bar graphics in an outdoor environment.
The present work proposes the use of data visualization techniques allied to an Augmented Reality (AR) user interface to provide information for users to define the most
convenient location to sit down at an event. This accounts for different sets of arbitrary demands by projecting 3D information directly atop the seats. The users can also rearrange the data to narrow down the search and switch the attribute being displayed,
e.g. temperature, stage visibility, exit access or Wi-Fi signal. The proposed approach was tested against a comparable 2D interactive visualization of the same data. Each user performed twelve location choosing tasks in an average sized classroom. Qualitative and quantitative data indicated that the augmented solution is promising in some senses, exposing that AR may help users to make better decisions.
Immersive analytics (IA) is a new term referring to the use of immersive technologies for data analysis. Yet such applications are not new, and numerous contributions have been made in the last three decades. However, no survey reviewing all these contributions is available. Here we propose a survey of IA from the early nineties until the present day, describing how rendering technologies, data, sensory mapping, and interaction means have been used to build IA systems, as well as how these systems have been evaluated. The conclusions that emerge from our analysis are that: multi-sensory aspects of IA are under-exploited, the 3DUI and VR community knowledge regarding immersive interaction is not sufficiently utilised, the IA community should focus on converging towards best practices, as well as aim for real life IA systems.
This work explores the user experience with two situated visualiza-tions that lie on different points of design space. The first visualization - the Activity Clock - displays the aggregate presence of laboratory members into a wall clock. The second - Personal Activities - represents the same persons individually, in a conventional poster media. We interviewed 17 participants and leverage a theoretical lens of Continuous Engagement and Sense-Making to study how design decisions impact the user experience with respect to (1) which design factors attract users, (2) how design features affect users' understanding of the visualization, and (3) what kind of reflections are evoked by design. We discuss how the defamiliarizing effect of the Activity Clock plays a dual role in attracting users while also hindering their understanding of the data. We also consider the evidence that fine representation granularity in the Personal Activities evokes deeper reflections.
While there is a growing stream of research on academic makerspaces, developing a rich and deep understanding of the practices and interactions in these spaces is arduous because of their situated and dynamic nature. Previous studies have used traditional social science approaches – quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods – including surveys, interviews, and observations. To complement these methods, usage data has been collected through ID card readers, sign-in apps, and university data [All these methods combined provide plentiful data about foot traffic and machine use in academic makerspaces. Yet, they do not allow us to visualize to develop a temporal and dynamic visualization of these practices. This paper explores an alternative method to the traditional evaluative methods. More specifically, our research question is, how can we develop tangible methods to complement traditional methods in order to visualize practices in a makerspace?
Inspired by design research and recent research on tangible representations, we built a research tool to capture practices dynamically in an academic makerspace. Based on our previous research, we adapted CAIRN, a re-search tool developed to study interactions in a FabLab in Paris. In this paper, we present our adaptation of CAIRN for the NYU MakerSpace – its characteristics and how we developed it.
The decision-making process and the development of decision support systems (DSS) have been enhanced by a variety of methods originated from information science, cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence over the past years. Situated visualization (SV) is a method to present data representations in context. Its main characteristic is to display data representations near the data referent. As augmented reality (AR) is becoming more mature, affordable and widespread, using it as a tool for SV becomes feasible in several situations. In addition, it may provide a positive contribution to more effective and efficient decision-making, as the users have contextual, relevant and appropriate information to endorse their choices. As new challenges and opportunities arise, it is important to understand the relevance of intertwining these fields. Based on a literature analysis, this paper addresses and discusses current areas of application, benefits, challenges and opportunities of using SV through AR to visualize data in context to support a decision-making process and its importance in future DSS.
This paper presents DXR, a toolkit for building immersive data visualizations based on the Unity development platform. Over the past years, immersive data visualizations in augmented and virtual reality (AR, VR) have been emerging as a promising medium for data sense-making beyond the desktop. However, creating immersive visualizations remains challenging, and often require complex low-level programming and tedious manual encoding of data attributes to geometric and visual properties. These can hinder the iterative idea-to-prototype process, especially for developers without experience in 3D graphics, AR, and VR programming. With DXR, developers can efficiently specify visualization designs using a concise declarative visualization grammar inspired by Vega-Lite. DXR further provides a GUI for easy and quick edits and previews of visualization designs in-situ, i.e., while immersed in the virtual world. DXR also provides reusable templates and customizable graphical marks, enabling unique and engaging visualizations. We demonstrate the flexibility of DXR through several examples spanning a wide range of applications.
In this paper we examine ways to make data more meaningful and useful for citizens in participatory sensing. Participatory sensing has evolved as a digitally enabled grassroots approach to data collection for citizens with shared concerns. However, citizens often struggle to understand data in relation to their daily lives, and use them effectively. This paper presents a qualitative study on the development of a novel approach to Community Level Indicators (CLIs) during two participatory sensing projects focused on noise pollution. It investigates how CLIs can provide an infrastructure to address challenges in participatory sensing, specifically, making data meaningful and useful for non-experts. Furthermore, we consider how this approach moves towards an ambition of achieving change and impact through participatory sensing and discuss the challenges in this way of working and provide recommendations for future use of CLIs.
Today, the widespread use of mobile devices allows users to search information "on the go", whenever and wherever they want, no longer confining Information Retrieval to classic desktop interfaces. We believe that technical advances in Augmented Reality will allow Information Retrieval to go even further, making use of both the users» surroundings and their abilities to interact with the physical world. In this paper, we present the fundamental concept of Reality-Based Information Retrieval, which combines the classic Information Retrieval process with Augmented Reality technologies to provide context-dependent search cues and situated visualizations of the query and the results. With information needs often stemming from real-world experiences, this novel combination has the potential to better support both Just-in-time Information Retrieval and serendipity. Based on extensive literature research, we propose a conceptual framework for Reality-Based Information Retrieval. We illustrate and discuss this framework and present two prototypical implementations, which we tested in small user studies. They demonstrate the feasibility of our concepts and inspired our discussion of notable challenges for further research in this novel and promising area.
In this pictorial, we present the design process and the functioning of Cairn: a tangible apparatus that enables data collection, visualization and analysis. Designed within a community of practice of a French FabLab, Cairn aims at understanding the variety of practices within FabLabs. Cairn explores tangible alternatives to questionnaires and other traditional evaluation techniques, and stressed the aesthetic and affective dimensions to create an engaging experience. It invites Fablab visitors to reflect on their practices by materializing their activities using small colored wooden-tiles. Interacting individually with Cairn, people contribute to create a collaborative and meaningful sculpture, upon which they can reflect collectively. We discuss the opportunities that this prototype opens for future situated HCI research.
In this paper we analyze the role of physical scale models in the architectural design process and apply insights from architecture for the creation and use of data physicalizations. Based on a survey of the architecture literature on model making and ten interviews with practicing architects, we describe the role of physical models as a tool for exploration and communication. From these observations, we identify trends in the use of physical models in architecture, which have the potential to inform the design of data physicalizations. We identify four functions of architectural modeling that can be directly adapted for use in the process of building rich data models. Finally, we discuss how the visualization community can apply observations from architecture to the design of new data physicalizations.
We propose to conduct a workshop on the topic of Immersive Analytics: a new multidisciplinary initiative to explore future interaction technologies for data analytics. Immersive Analytics aims to bring together researchers in Information Visualisation, Visual Analytics, Virtual and Augmented Reality and Natural User Interfaces. http://immersiveanalytics.net
We introduce embedded data representations, the use of visual and physical representations of data that are deeply integrated with the physical spaces, objects, and entities to which the data refers. Technologies like lightweight wireless displays, mixed reality hardware, and autonomous vehicles are making it increasingly easier to display data in-context. While researchers and artists have already begun to create embedded data representations, the benefits, trade-offs, and even the language necessary to describe and compare these approaches remain unexplored. In this paper, we formalize the notion of physical data referents – the real-world entities and spaces to which data corresponds – and examine the relationship between referents and the visual and physical representations of their data. We differentiate situated representations, which display data in proximity to data referents, and embedded representations, which display data so that it spatially coincides with data referents. Drawing on examples from visualization, ubiquitous computing, and art, we explore the role of spatial indirection, scale, and interaction for embedded representations. We also examine the tradeoffs between non-situated, situated, and embedded data displays, including both visualizations and physicalizations. Based on our observations, we identify a variety of design challenges for embedded data representation, and suggest opportunities for future research and applications.
In this work we report on two comprehensive user studies investigating the perception of Augmented Reality (AR) visualizations influenced by real-world backgrounds. Since AR is an emerging technology, it is important to also consider productive use cases, which is why we chose an exemplary and challenging industry 4.0 environment. Our basic perceptual research focuses on both the visual complexity of backgrounds as well as the influence of a secondary task. In contrast to our expectation, data of our 34 study participants indicate that the background has far less influence on the perception of AR visualizations. Moreover, we observed a mismatch between measured and subjectively reported performance. We discuss the importance of the background and recommendations for visual real-world augmentations. Overall, our results suggest that AR can be used in many visually challenging environments without losing the ability to productively work with the visualizations shown.
Over the last decade growing amounts of government data have been made available in an attempt to increase transparency and civic participation, but it is unclear if this data serves non-expert communities due to gaps in access and the technical knowledge needed to interpret this “open” data. We conducted a two-year design study focused on the creation of a community-based data display using the United States Environmental Protection Agency data on water permit violations by oil storage facilities on the Chelsea Creek in Massachusetts to explore whether situated data physicalization and Participatory Action Research could support meaningful engagement with open data. We selected this data as it is of interest to local groups and available online, yet remains largely invisible and inaccessible to the Chelsea community. The resulting installation, Chemicals in the Creek, responds to the call for community-engaged visualization processes and provides an application of situated methods of data representation. It proposes event-centered and power-aware modes of engagement using contextual and embodied data representations. The design of Chemicals in the Creek is grounded in interactive workshops and we analyze it through event observation, interviews, and community outcomes. We reflect on the role of community engaged research in the Information Visualization community relative to recent conversations on new approaches to design studies and evaluation.
Visual video analytics research, stemming from data captured by surveillance cameras, have mainly focused on traditional computing paradigms, despite emerging platforms including mobile devices. We investigate the potential for situated video analytics, which involves the inspection of video data in the actual environment where the video was captured [14]. Our ultimate goal is to explore the means to visually explore video data effectively, in situated contexts. We first investigate the performance of visual analytic tasks in situated vs. non-situated settings. We find that participants largely benefit from environmental cues for many analytic tasks. We then pose the question of how best to represent situated video data. To answer this, in a design session we explore end-users’ views on how to capture such data. Through the process of sketching, participants leveraged being situated, and explored how being in-situ influenced the participants’ integration of their designs. Based on these two elements, our paper proposes the need to develop novel spatial analytic user interfaces to support situated video analysis.
In electrical engineering, hardware experts often need to analyze electromagnetic radiation data to detect any external interference or anomaly. The field that studies this sort of assessment is called electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). As a way to support EMC analysis, we propose the use of Augmented Situated Visualization (ASV) to supply professionals with visual and interactive information that helps them to comprehend that data, however situating it where it is most relevant in its spatial context. Users are able to interact with the visualization by changing the attributes being displayed, comparing the overlaps of multiple fields, and extracting data, as a way to refine their search. The solutions being proposed in this work were tested against each other in comparable 2D and 3D interactive visualizations of the same data in a series of data-extraction assessments with users, as a means to validate the approaches. Results exposed a correctness-time trade-off between the interaction methods. The hand-based techniques (Hand Slider and Touch Lens) were the least error-prone, being near to half as error-inducing as the gaze-based method. Touch Lens also performed as the least time-consuming method, taking in average less than half of the average time required by the others. For the visualization methods tested, the 2D ray casts presented a higher usability score and lesser workload index than the 3D topology view, however exposing over two times the error ratio. Ultimately, this work exposes how AR can help users to have better performances in a decision-making context, particularly in EMC related tasks, while also furthering the research in the ASV field.
When showing data about people, visualization designers and data journalists often use design strategies that presumably help the audience relate to those people. The term
anthropographics
has been recently coined to refer to this practice and the resulting visualizations. Anthropographics is a rich and growing area, but the work so far has remained scattered. Despite preliminary empirical work and a few web essays written by practitioners, there is a lack of clear language for thinking about and communicating about anthropographics. We address this gap by introducing a conceptual framework and a design space for anthropographics. Our design space consists of seven elementary design dimensions that can be reasonably hypothesized to have some effect on prosocial feelings or behavior. It extends a previous design space and is informed by an analysis of 105 visualizations collected from newspapers, websites, and research articles. We use our conceptual framework and design space to discuss trade-offs, common design strategies, as well as future opportunities for design and research in the area of anthropographics.
Augmented reality allows users to superimpose digital information (typically, of operational type) upon real-world objects. The synergy of analytical frameworks and augmented reality opens the door to a new wave of situated analytics, in which users within a physical environment are provided with immersive analyses of local contextual data. In this paper, we propose an approach named A-BI⁺ (Augmented Business Intelligence) that, based on the sensed augmented context (provided by wearable and smart devices), proposes a set of relevant analytical queries to the user. This is done by relying on a mapping between the objects that can be recognized by the devices and the elements of the enterprise multidimensional cubes, and also by taking into account the queries preferred by users during previous interactions that occurred in similar contexts. A set of experimental tests evaluates the proposed approach in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction.
Situated sketching and enactment aim at grounding designs in the spatial, social and cultural practices of a particular place. This is particularly relevant when designing for public places in which human activities are open-ended, multi-faceted, and difficult to anticipate, such as libraries, train stations, or commercial areas. In order to investigate situated sketching and enactment, we developed Ébauche. It enables designers to collaboratively sketch interfaces, distribute them across multiple displays and enact use cases. We present the lessons learned from six situated sketching and enactment workshops on public displays with Ébauche. And we present the results of a controlled study with 8 pairs of designers who used paper and Ébauche. We present the various ways in which participants leveraged the place, and how paper or Ébauche influenced the integration of their designs in the place. Looking at the design outcomes, our results suggest that paper leads to broader exploration of ideas and deeper physical integration in the environment. Whereas Ébauche leads to more refined sketches and more animated enactments.
Data collection and analysis in the field is critical for operations in domains such as environmental science and public safety. However, field workers currently face data- and platform-oriented issues in efficient data collection and analysis in the field, such as limited connectivity, screen space, and attentional resources. In this paper, we explore how visual analytics tools might transform field practices by more deeply integrating data into these operations. We use a design probe coupling mobile, cloud, and immersive analytics components to guide interviews with ten experts from five domains to explore how visual analytics could support data collection and analysis needs in the field. The results identify shortcomings of current approaches and target scenarios and design considerations for future field analysis systems. We embody these findings in FieldView, an extensible, open-source prototype designed to support critical use cases for situated field analysis. Our findings suggest the potential for integrating mobile and immersive technologies to enhance data's utility for various field operations and new directions for visual analytics tools to transform fieldwork.
In this demo we introduce our ongoing research on how to leverage the situated visualization of open and citizen science data within public space to inform and engage citizens. We developed an open-source toolkit, coined "Citizen Dialogue Kit" that is able to convey data visualizations on a set of interactive, wirelessly networked displays that can be freely positioned in urban space. The toolkit consists of a participative methodology to guide stakeholders with the choice of data and the design of its visualization, a set of off-the-shelf hardware components, and custom-made open source software that controls the whole system. We summarize the design of the toolkit and its initial deployment and conclude by discussing implications for urban visualization and future work.
Novel social, civic or entertainment opportunities might emerge when spatially distributed public displays become interlinked in meaningful ways. Yet little is still known about the effect of intrinsic design dimensions, such as how multiple displays should be spatially arranged, how their content should be linked, and how their locations and content should dynamically change over time. We therefore conducted a two-month long design study of a distributed public display system that invited passers-by to answer hyperlocal questions. By comparing the performance of different content and location arrangement strategies, we reveal distinct spatiotemporal user engagement patterns, and the specific local conditions that shaped them. We also discovered several contextual factors that inhibit more widescale engagement, among which the conceptual novelty, the apparent purpose, and the perceived cumulative effort to engage with several displays. Consequently, this study provides insights on how public displays can be linked to augment the effects of distribution.
We report on findings from seven design workshops that used ideation and sketching activities to prototype new situated visualizations - representations of data that are displayed in proximity to the physical referents (such as people, objects, and locations) to which the data is related. Designing situated visualizations requires a fine-grained understanding of the context in which the visualizations are placed, as well as an exploration of different options for placement and form factors, which existing methods for visualization design do not account for. Focusing on small displays as a target platform, we reflect on our experiences of using a diverse range of sketching activities, materials, and prompts. Based on these observations, we identify challenges and opportunities for sketching and ideating situated visualizations. We also outline the space of design activities for situated visualization and highlight promising methods for both designers and researchers.
This chapter introduces the concept of situated analytics that employs data representations organized in relation to germane objects, places, and persons for the purpose of understanding, sensemaking, and decision-making. The components of situated analytics are characterized in greater detail, including the users, tasks, data, representations, interactions, and analytical processes involved. Several case studies of projects and products are presented that exemplify situated analytics in action. Based on these case studies, a set of derived design considerations for building situated analytics applications are presented. Finally, there is a an outline of a research agenda of challenges and research questions to explore in the future.
The proliferation of Internet-of-Things devices in urban environments empower citizens to appropriate data for civic purposes. Simultaneously, public visualization has shown to engage a wide audience with data by situating its graphical representation within the actual environment of its measurements. We thus propose a public visualization and polling system that enables residents to co-author a civically-motivated data-driven narrative and distribute it over multiple wireless displays located at different physical locations. Through an in-the-wild study, we studied how passers-by and residents engaged with the system by applying a user engagement evaluation model that maps the social and spatio-temporal context into interactions between the content, the environment and the infrastructure and two distinct user types, i.e. the residents who hosted the displays and the passers-by. Our findings show how the tacit social relationships between the user types, the social factors between passers-by, various temporal aspects, and several contextual factors affect user engagement with our spatially distributed public visualization and polling displays.
In this short paper we present the design of Duopography¹, a dual-surface mobile tangible interface for spatial representation and manipulation of topography. The 3D physical topographic front of Duopography acts as a tangible interface, enabling sketching directly on the 3D terrain, as well as visual augmentation of the topography. At the same time, Duopography's flat back-of-device supports gestures that are hard to perform on the irregular front, allowing common interaction techniques such as panning and pinching. We contribute a prototype and the results of a preliminary evaluation of a dual-surface topography interface combining 3D printed front and a flat back-of-device.
Families enjoy capturing digital media about their life and replaying moments, yet it is not always easy to do so. To explore this design space, we created a physical, ambient, and situated visualization prototype called Time-Turner specifically designed for a home setting that records video of family activities and allows families to review their past activities. We report our design requirements, design rationale and the implications of our work for future design researchers.
The phrase "in-the-wild" is becoming popular again in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI), describing approaches to HCI research and accounts of user experience phenomena that differ from those derived from other lab-based methods. The phrase first came to the forefront 20-25 years ago when anthropologists Jean Lave (1988), Lucy Suchman (1987), and Ed Hutchins (1995) began writing about cognition being in-the-wild. Today, it is used more broadly to refer to research that seeks to understand new technology interventions in everyday living. A reason for its resurgence in contemporary HCI is an acknowledgment that so much technology is now embedded and used in our everyday lives. Researchers have begun following suit—decamping from their usability and living labs and moving into the wild; carrying out in-situ development and engagement, sampling experiences, and probing people in their homes and on the streets. The aim of this book is to examine what this new direction entails and what it ...
In this paper, we present a case study of an urban organic food community and examine the way the community shapes its artifact ecology through a combination of appropriation of freely or cheaply available tools, and the long-term effort of building the community's own website. Based on participatory observation, content analysis of communication documents, and a series of interviews, we see how the collection of artifacts that a community uses to support their practice form what we refer to as their community artifact ecology. A community artifact ecology is multifaceted, dynamic and pending on what the members bring to the table, as well as on particular situations of use. The community artifact ecology concept is important for CSCW as it enables framing of the relationship between communities and technologies beyond the single artifact and beyond a static view of a dedicated technology.
This paper introduces the use of Augmented Reality as an immersive analytical tool in the physical world. We present Situated Analytics, a novel combination of real-time interaction and visualization techniques that allows exploration and analysis of information about objects in the user's physical environment. Situated Analytics presents both situated and abstract summary and contextual information to a user. We conducted a user study to evaluate its use in three shopping analytics tasks, comparing the use of a Situated Analytics prototype with manual analysis. The results showed that users preferred the Situated Analytics prototype over the manual method, and that tasks were performed more quickly and accurately using the prototype.