Multi-WIM Paradigm: Comparing Urban Planning Variants with Worlds-in-Miniature

Area of Science:

• Virtual Reality (VR)
• Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
• Urban Planning Visualization

Background:

• World-in-Miniatures (WIMs) are established VR tools for environmental overviews.
• Traditional WIMs are underutilized for comparing virtual environment alternatives.
• Urban planning requires effective tools for evaluating design variations.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce and evaluate a novel Multi-WIM paradigm for comparing urban planning alternatives.
• Investigate the effectiveness of different WIM arrangements (juxtaposed, stacked toggle, stacked swipe) for exploration and comparison.
• Understand user preferences and performance trade-offs between efficiency and collaboration in multi-user VR settings.

Main Methods:

• Developed a Multi-WIM paradigm visualizing each urban planning alternative in a separate WIM.
• Implemented three interaction modes: juxtaposed, stacked toggle, and stacked swipe.
• Conducted a VR user study (N=24) assessing difference identification and spatial estimation tasks.

Main Results:

• The stacked toggle mode significantly improved speed for difference identification.
• The juxtaposed view enhanced performance in landmark recall tasks.
• Users preferred the toggle mode in single-user scenarios, while juxtaposed view facilitated collaboration in multi-user settings.

Conclusions:

• The Multi-WIM paradigm offers flexible exploration of urban planning alternatives.
• Different interaction modes (juxtaposed, toggle, swipe) cater to distinct user needs and collaboration phases.
• Integrating all modes with seamless transitions is crucial for comprehensive urban planning applications in VR.