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Building a Prototype for Easy to Use Collaborative Immersive Analytics

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Computational Science – ICCS 2021 (ICCS 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 12742))

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Abstract

The increase in the size and complexity of today’s datasets creates a need to develop and experiment with novel data visualization methods. One of these innovations is immersive analytics, in which extended reality technologies such as virtual reality headsets are used to present and study data in virtual worlds. But while the use of immersive analytics dates back to the end of the 20th century, it wasn’t until recently that collaboration in these data visualization environments was taken in consideration. One of the problems currently surrounding this field is the lack of availability of easy to use cooperative data visualization tools that take advantage of the modern, easily attainable head mounted display virtual reality solutions. This work proposes to create an accessible collaborative immersive analytics framework that users with low virtual reality background can master, and share, regardless of platform. With this in mind, a prototype of a visualization platform was developed in Unity3D that allows users to create their own visualizations and collaborate with other users from around the world. Additional features such as avatars, resizable visualizations and data highlighters were implemented to increase immersion and collaborative thinking. The end result shows promising qualities, as it is platform versatile, simple to setup and use and is capable of rapidly enabling groups to meet and analyse data in an immersive environment, even across the world.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    More information available online at https://vrtoolkit.readme.io/v3.3.0.

  2. 2.

    More information available online at: https://www.photonengine.com/pun.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Daniel Garrido, João Jacob & Daniel Castro Silva

  2. Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science Laboratory (LIACC), Rua Dr. Roberto Frias S/n, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    Daniel Garrido, João Jacob & Daniel Castro Silva

Authors
  1. Daniel Garrido
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  2. João Jacob
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  3. Daniel Castro Silva
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Garrido .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland

    Maciej Paszynski

  2. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Dieter Kranzlmüller

  3. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Valeria V. Krzhizhanovskaya

  4. University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Jack J. Dongarra

  5. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Peter M. A. Sloot

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Garrido, D., Jacob, J., Silva, D.C. (2021). Building a Prototype for Easy to Use Collaborative Immersive Analytics. In: Paszynski, M., Kranzlmüller, D., Krzhizhanovskaya, V.V., Dongarra, J.J., Sloot, P.M.A. (eds) Computational Science – ICCS 2021. ICCS 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12742. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77961-0_50

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77961-0_50

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