Recent advances in augmented reality (AR) technology enable the projection of holograms to a fixed location in 3D space. This renders new possibilities for influencing peoples’ spatial perception and to address cognitive limitations as structural distortions in cognitive representations of space. The study presented in this paper investigated whether these structural distortions can be reduced by projecting a holographic grid into 3D space. Accuracy of the cognitive representation of space was assessed based on distance estimations and an object location memory task. The findings revealed that distance estimations were indeed more accurate when a holographic grid was available. Location memory performance, on the other hand, was worse when a holographic grid was available. Based on feedback from the participants, it can be assumed that design characteristics of the used AR headset are at least partly responsible for this result. These characteristics include a reduced field of view and visual distortions in the peripheral areas of the field of view. Overall, the findings show that AR can be used to influence and, when applied correctly, improve peoples’ spatial perception. However, more research is needed to specify requirements, strengths, and weaknesses of geographic AR applications.

Mental representations of geographic space are based on knowledge of spatial elements and the spatial relation between these elements. Acquiring such mental representations of space requires assessing distances between pairs of spatial elements. In virtual reality (VR) applications, locomotion techniques based on real-world movement are constrained by the size of the available room and the used room scale tracking system. Therefore, many VR applications use additional locomotion techniques such as artificial locomotion (continuous forward movement) or teleporting (“jumping” from one location to another). These locomotion techniques move the user through virtual space based on controller input. However, it has not yet been investigated how different established controller-based locomotion techniques affect distance estimations in VR. In an experiment, we compared distance estimations between artificial locomotion and teleportation before and after a training phase. The results showed that distance estimations in both locomotion conditions improved after the training. Additionally, distance estimations were found to be more accurate when teleportation locomotion was used.

Stakeholder participation is an important component of modern urban planning processes. It can provide information about potential social conflicts related to specific urban planning scenarios. However, acquiring feedback from stakeholders is usually limited to explicit response types such as interviews or questionnaires. Such explicit response types are not suitable for the assessment of unconscious responses to specific parameters of an urban planning scenario. To address this limitation, we propose an approach for the assessment of affective and stress responses using implicit measures. Using a measure for electrodermal activity (EDA) and a virtual reality (VR)-based 3D urban model, we demonstrate how implicit physiological measurements can be visualized and temporally matched to specific parameters in an immersive representation of an urban planning scenario. Since this approach is supposed to support conventional stakeholder participation processes in urban planning, we designed it to be simple, cost-effective and with as little task interference as possible. Based on the additional insights gained from measuring physiological responses to urban planning scenarios, urban planners can further optimize planning scenarios by adjusting them to the derived implicitly expressed needs of stakeholders. To support simple implementation of the suggested approach, we provide sample scripts for visualization of EDA data. Limitations concerning the evaluation of raw EDA data and potentials for extending the described approach with additional physiological measures and real-time data evaluation are discussed.

Abstract. Modern Virtual Reality (VR) applications often use artificial locomotion to allow users to travel distances within VR space that exceed the available space used to transfer real-world and real-time motion into the virtual environment. The locomotion speed is usually not fixed and can be selected dynamically by the user. Due to motion adaptation effects, variations of locomotion speed could affect how distances in VR are perceived. In the context of cartographic VR applications aimed to experience and communicate spatial information, such effects on distance perception could be problematic, because they might lead to distortions in cognitive representations of space acquired via interaction with VR environments. By conducting a VR-based distance estimation study, we demonstrate how changes of artificial locomotion speed affect distance estimations in VR. Increasing locomotion speeds after letting users adapt to a lower locomotion speed led to lower distance estimations and decreasing locomotion speeds led to higher distance estimations. These findings should sensitize VR developers to consider the choice of applied locomotion techniques when a developed VR application is supposed to communicate distance information or to support the acquisition of a cognitive representation of geographic space.