Abstract:
Tangible interfaces in mixed reality (MR) environments allow for intuitive data interactions. Tangible cubes, with their rich interaction affordances, high maneuverability, and stable structure, are particularly well-suited for exploring multi-dimensional data types. However, the design potential of these cubes is underexplored. This study introduces a design space for tangible cubes in MR, focusing on interaction space, visualization space, sizes, and multiplicity. Using spatio-temporal data, we explored the interaction affordances of these cubes in a workshop (N=24). We identified unique interactions like rotating, tapping, and stacking, which are linked to augmented reality (AR) visualization commands. Integrating user-identified interactions, we created a design space for tangible-cube interactions and visualization. A prototype visualizing global health spending with small cubes was developed and evaluated, supporting both individual and combined cube manipulation. This research enhances our grasp of tangible interaction in MR, offering insights for future design and application in diverse data contexts.
Main reference:
Shuqi He, Haonan Yao, Luyan Jiang, Kaiwen Li, Nan Xiang, Yue Li, Hai-Ning Liang, and Lingyun Yu. 2024. Data Cubes in Hand: A Design Space of Tangible Cubes for Visualizing 3D Spatio-Temporal Data in Mixed Reality. In Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 209, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642740
BibTex:
author = {He, Shuqi and Yao, Haonan and Jiang, Luyan and Li, Kaiwen and Xiang, Nan and Li, Yue and Liang, Hai-Ning and Yu, Lingyun},
title = {Data Cubes in Hand: A Design Space of Tangible Cubes for Visualizing 3D Spatio-Temporal Data in Mixed Reality},
year = {2024},
isbn = {9798400703300},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642740},
doi = {10.1145/3613904.3642740},
abstract = {Tangible interfaces in mixed reality (MR) environments allow for intuitive data interactions. Tangible cubes, with their rich interaction affordances, high maneuverability, and stable structure, are particularly well-suited for exploring multi-dimensional data types. However, the design potential of these cubes is underexplored. This study introduces a design space for tangible cubes in MR, focusing on interaction space, visualization space, sizes, and multiplicity. Using spatio-temporal data, we explored the interaction affordances of these cubes in a workshop (N=24). We identified unique interactions like rotating, tapping, and stacking, which are linked to augmented reality (AR) visualization commands. Integrating user-identified interactions, we created a design space for tangible-cube interactions and visualization. A prototype visualizing global health spending with small cubes was developed and evaluated, supporting both individual and combined cube manipulation. This research enhances our grasp of tangible interaction in MR, offering insights for future design and application in diverse data contexts.},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
articleno = {209},
numpages = {21},
keywords = {mixed reality, spatio-temporal data, tangible interaction},
location = {Honolulu, HI, USA},
series = {CHI ’24}
}