Navigation modes in virtual environments: walking vs. joystick

ABSTRACT

There is considerable evidence that people have difficulty maintaining orientation in virtual environments. This difficulty is usually attributed to poor idiothetic cues, such as the absence of proprioception and other sources of information provided by self locomotion. The lack of proprioceptive cues presents a strong argument against the use of a joystick interface, and the importance of full physical movement for navigation tasks has also recently been confirmed by Ruddle and Lessels [2006], who showed that subjects performing a navigational task were superior when they were allowed to walk freely rather than when they could only physically rotate themselves or only move virtually. Our study seeks to confirm the results of Ruddle and Lessels.

REFERENCES

• 1: Kelly, J. W., McNamara, T. P., Bodenheimer, B., Carr, T. H., and Rieser, J. J. 2008. Geometric cues used in the maintenance of orientation and in reorientation: Differential effects of rotational symmetry. In Review.
• 2: Ruddle, R. A., and Lessels, S. 2006. For efficient navigation search, humans require full physical movement but not a rich visual scene. Psychological Science, 6, 460--465.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.1 Multimedia Information Systems
          Subjects: Artificial, augmented, and virtual realities

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)

  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.3 COMPUTER GRAPHICS
      I.3.7 Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism
          Subjects: Virtual reality

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Human Factors, Measurement