Navigational Search in VR: Do Reference Frames Help?

profile

Would the rec­tan­gu­lar ref­er­ence frame of a CAVE help to reduce dis­ori­en­ta­tion and improve nav­i­ga­tion per­for­mance in VR? Here, we show that simply pro­vid­ing the rec­tan­gu­lar ref­er­ence frame of a room (as a simple wire­frame cuboid), but not a CAVE improved nav­i­ga­tional search performance.  

Despite recent advances in vir­tual real­ity, loco­mo­tion in a vir­tual envi­ron­ment is still restricted because of spa­tial dis­ori­en­ta­tion. Previous research has shown the ben­e­fits of ref­er­ence frames in main­tain­ing spa­tial ori­en­ta­tion. Here, we pro­pose using a visu­ally sim­u­lated ref­er­ence frame in vir­tual real­ity to pro­vide users with a better sense of direc­tion in landmark-free vir­tual envi­ron­ments. Visually over­laid rec­tan­gu­lar frames sim­u­late dif­fer­ent vari­a­tions of frames of ref­er­ence. We inves­ti­gated how two dif­fer­ent types of visu­ally sim­u­lated ref­er­ence frames might ben­e­fit in a nav­i­ga­tional search task through a mixed-method study. Results showed that the pres­ence of a ref­er­ence frame sig­nif­i­cantly affects par­tic­i­pants’ per­for­mance in a nav­i­ga­tional search task. Though the ego­cen­tric frame of ref­er­ence (sim­u­lated CAVE) that trans­lates with the observer did not sig­nif­i­cantly help, an allo­cen­tric frame of ref­er­ence (a sim­u­lated sta­tion­ary room) sig­nif­i­cantly improved user per­for­mance both in nav­i­ga­tional search time and over­all travel dis­tance. Our study sug­gests that adding a vari­a­tion of the ref­er­ence frame to vir­tual real­ity appli­ca­tions might be a cost-effective solu­tion to enable more effec­tive loco­mo­tion in vir­tual reality.

For more infor­ma­tion and to down­load a demo, see http://navisearch.ispacelab.com/

YouTube Preview Image
Nguyen-Vo, T., Riecke, B. E., & Stuerzlinger, W. (2017). Moving in a Box: Improving Spatial Orientation in Virtual Reality using Simulated Reference Frames. 207–208. https://doi.org/10.1109/3DUI.2017.7893344
Nguyen, T., Riecke, B. E., & Stuerzlinger, W. (2017). Moving in a Box: Improving Spatial Orientation in Virtual Reality using Simulated Reference Frames. Presented at the IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces 3DUI

Click to view Poster

Media Gallery

Publications

Nguyen-Vo, Thinh, Bernhard E. Riecke, and Wolfgang Stuerzlinger. 2017. “Investigating the Effect of Simulated Reference Frames on Spatial Orientation in Virtual Reality.” Poster pre­sented at the Second International Workshop on Models and Representations in Spatial Cognition, Tübingen, Germany, April 6. (Download)
Adhikari, Ashu, Bernhard E. Riecke, Abraham M. Hashemian, Thinh Nguyen-Vo, Ernst Kruijff, and Markus von der Heyde. 2021. “Embodied VR Flying Improves Spatial Orientation While Reducing Cybersickness.” Talk pre­sented at the ICSC 2021: 8th International Conference on Spatial Cognition, Rome, Italy. https://youtu.be/FbmE4SEISWU. (Download)
Hashemian, Abraham M., Alexandra Kitson, Thinh Nguyen-Vo, Hrvoje Benko, Wolfgang Stuerzlinger, and Bernhard E. Riecke. 2018. “Investigating a Sparse Peripheral Display in a Head-Mounted Display for VR Locomotion.” In 2018 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR), 571–72. Reutlingen, Germany: IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/VR.2018.8446345. (Download)
Nguyen-Vo, Thinh, Bernhard E. Riecke, Wolfgang Stuerzlinger, Duc-Minh Pham, and Ernst Kruijff. 2018. “Do We Need Actual Walking in VR? Leaning with Actual Rotation Might Suffice for Efficient Locomotion.” Poster pre­sented at the Spatial Cognition 2018. (Download)
Nguyen-Vo, T., Riecke, B. E., & Stuerzlinger, W. (2017). Moving in a Box: Improving Spatial Orientation in Virtual Reality using Simulated Reference Frames. 207–208. https://doi.org/10.1109/3DUI.2017.7893344 (Download)