A Comparative Study of User Performance in a Map-Based Virtual Environment

  • Authors:
  • J. Edward Swan II;Joseph L. Gabbard;Deborah Hix;Robert S. Schulman;Keun Pyo Kim

  • Affiliations:
  • -;-;-;-;-

  • Venue:
  • VR '03 Proceedings of the IEEE Virtual Reality 2003
  • Year:
  • 2003

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Abstract

We present a comparative study of user performance withtasks involving navigation, visual search, and geometricmanipulation, in a map-based battlefield visualizationvirtual environment (VE). Specifically, our experimentcompared user performance of the same task across fourdifferent VE platforms: desktop, cave, workbench, andwall. Independent variables were platform type, stereopsis(stereo, mono), movement control mode (rate, position),and frame of reference (egocentric, exocentric).Overall results showed that users performed tasks fastestusing the desktop and slowest using the workbench.Other results are detailed below. Notable is that we designedour task in an application context, with taskingmuch closer to how users would actually use a real-worldbattlefield visualization system. This is very uncommonfor comparative studies, which are usually designed withabstract tasks to minimize variance. This is, we believe,one of the first and most complex studies to comparativelyexamine, in an application context, this many key variablesaffecting VE user interface design.