Andreas Dünser

A survey of evaluation techniques used in augmented reality studies

ABSTRACT In this paper we report on an initial survey of user evaluation techniques used in Augmented Reality (AR) research. To identify all papers which include AR evaluations we reviewed research publications between the years 1993 and 2007 from online databases of selected scientific publishers. Starting with a total of 6071 publications we filtered the articles in several steps which resulted in 165 AR related publications with user evaluations. These publications were classified in two different ways: according to the evaluation type used following an earlier literature survey classification scheme; and according to the evaluation methods or approach used. We present the results of out literature survey, provide a comprehensive list of references of the selected publications, and discuss some possible research opportunities for future work. Keywords: Augmented Reality, user evaluation, evaluation methods. This work may not be copied or reproduced in whole or in part for any commercial purpose. Permission to copy in whole or in part without payment of fee is granted for non-profit educational and research purposes provided that all such whole or partial copies include the following: a notice that such copying is by permission of

Virtual and augmented reality as spatial ability training tools

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR -- overlaying virtual objects onto the real world) offer interesting and wide spread possibilities to study different components of human behaviour and cognitive processes. One aspect of human cognition that has been frequently studied using VR technology is spatial ability. Research ranges from training studies that investigate whether and/or how spatial ability can be improved by using these new technologies to studies that focus on specific aspects of spatial ability for which VR is an efficient investigational tool. In this paper we first review studies that used VR technologies to study different aspects of spatial ability. Then results and findings will be presented from one of the first large-scale studies (215 students) that investigated the potential of an AR application to train spatial ability.

Summary of usability evaluations of an educational augmented reality application

We summarize three evaluations of an educational augmented reality application for geometry education, which have been conducted in 2000, 2003 and 2005 respectively. Repeated formative evaluations with more than 100 students guided the redesign of the application and its user interface throughout the years. We present and discuss the results regarding usability and simulator sickness providing guidelines on how to design augmented reality applications utilizing head-mounted displays.

The design of a mixed-reality book: Is it still a real book?

In this paper we present the results of our long term development of a mixed reality book. Most previous work in the area has focused on the technology of augmented reality books, such as providing registration using fiducial markers. In this work, however, we focused on exploring the design and development process of this type of application in a broader sense. We studied the semantics of a mixed reality book, the design space and the user experience with this type of interface.

Zooming interfaces for augmented reality browsers

Augmented Reality combines real world and virtual information in interactive visualizations. Since phones started integrating GPS, compass and accelerometer, several Augmented Reality browsers for phones have hit the market. These are applications that access large amounts of geo-referenced information from online sources and present it at corresponding physical locations, superimposed onto a live video stream. However, Augmented Reality is constrained by the cameras field of view and restricted to first- person views, limiting the amount of overview that users can gain. We present two zooming interfaces that compensate for these constraints by enabling users to smoothly zoom between the Augmented Reality view and (1) an egocentric panoramic view of 360°, and (2) an exocentric top-down view. We present the results from two studies that show how in most search tasks our zooming interfaces are faster and require less panning than an overlay- based tool, scaling better as the amount of information grows.

Technical Section: Exploring the use of handheld AR for outdoor navigation

Recently, mobile-phone based outdoor augmented reality (AR) systems have become readily available. One of the most popular applications are AR browsers that show virtual points of interest (POIs) overlaid on top of the phones camera view. These virtual cues can be used to guide people to the POIs. However, the usefulness of AR systems for guiding users to POI has not yet been evaluated, especially when compared to map interfaces. In this paper we present results of a user study comparing navigation with information typically provided by currently available handheld AR browsers, to navigation with a digital map, and a combined map and AR condition. We found no overall difference in task completion time, but found evidence that AR browsers are less useful for navigation in some environment conditions. We also found that navigation performance differed significantly with gender for the Map and AR+Map interfaces, but is very similar across gender for the AR interface. Users preferred the combined AR+Map condition, and felt that there were significant problems with using the AR view alone for navigation.

An observational study of children interacting with an augmented story book

We present findings of an observational study investigating how young children interact with augmented reality story books. Children aged between 6 and 7 read and interacted with one of two story books aimed at early literacy education. The books pages were augmented using animated virtual 3D characters, sound, and interactive tasks. Introducing novel media to young children requires system and story designers to consider not only technological issues but also questions arising from story design and the design of interactive sequences. We discuss findings of our study and implications regarding the implementation of augmented story books.

Lessons from an AR book study

We have observed children reading an augmented book aimed at early literacy education. We explored how children aged six to seven experience and interact with these novel instructional media. We here focus on issues arising from the tangibility of interface elements, the integration of physical and digital elements, on-screen and paper elements, and of text and interactive sequences.

CityViewAR: A mobile outdoor AR application for city visualization

In this paper we introduce CityViewAR, a mobile outdoor Augmented Reality (AR) application for providing AR information visualization on a city scale. The CityViewAR application was developed to provide geographical information about the city of Christchurch, which was hit by several major earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. The application provides information about destroyed buildings and historical sites that were affected by the earthquakes. The geo-located content is provided in a number of formats including 2D map views, AR visualization of 3D models of buildings on-site, immersive panorama photographs, and list views. The paper describes the iterative design and implementation details of the application, and gives one of the first examples of a study comparing user response to AR and non-AR viewing in a mobile tourism application. Results show that making such information easily accessible to the public in a number of formats could help people to have richer experience about cities. We provide guidelines that will be useful for people developing mobile AR applications for city-scale tourism or outdoor guiding, and discuss how the underlying technology could be used for applications in other areas.

Creating interactive physics education books with augmented reality

Augmented Books show three-dimensional animated educational content and provide a means for students to interact with this content in an engaging learning experience. In this paper we present a framework for creating educational Augmented Reality (AR) books that overlay virtual content over real book pages. The framework features support for certain types of user interaction, model and texture animations, and an enhanced marker design suitable for educational books. Three books teaching electromagnetism concepts were created with this framework. To evaluate the effectiveness in helping students learn, we conducted a small pilot study with ten secondary school students, studying electromagnetism concepts using the three books. Half of the group used the books with the diagrams augmented, while the other half used the books without augmentation. Participants completed a pre-test, a test after the learning session and a retention test administered 1 month later. Results suggest that AR has potential to be effective in teaching complex 3D concepts.