Geospatial Image Browsing in Virtual Reality

Abstract

Geospatial image browsing is a way of organizing images according to their spatial coordinates on a geographic map. Due to the rise of smartphones, the required location data is becoming common and easy to access. Like any other method for browsing images, geospatial image browsing has several downsides of which some can be mitigated by the use of virtual reality. As virtual reality is a new platform ways for visualizing and navigating these images is not well researched. We created three different visualizations (park sign, floor and panorama) and two navigation methods (flying and teleportation) to research effective ways for visualizing and navigating images using maps in VR.

Using a comparative study on the different combinations of visualizations and navigations, we analyzed the results pertaining to VR sickness and user experience to determine which combination was better suited for navigating our visualizations. The results show that for the park sign and panorama map, teleportation was the most effective navigation, whereas for the floor map, both flying and teleportation were suitable.

Based on these results, a second comparative study was conducted on three combinations evaluating user experience with regards to image browsing. All three combinations were rated as useful, easy to use, easy to learn and satisfying by the participants. Furthermore, the interview data of the participants is used to show potential benefits and drawbacks of the system for future use and research.