Comparative study design of multiple coordinated views for 2d large high-resolution display with 3d visualization using mixed reality technology

Abstract

We present the design of our qualitative assessment of user interaction and data exploration using our hybrid 2D and 3D visual analytic application with 2D visual analytics application running on Large High-Resolution Display (LHRD) and 3D visual analytics application running on mixed reality immersive displays. The application used for the study visualizes our Monte Carlo simulation over time showing topological, geospatial, and temporal aspects of the data in multiple views. We assessed attitudinal responses on the usefulness of visual analytics using 2D visualization on LHRD, and compare that with visual analytics using 2D visualization on LHRD with 3D visualization using mixed reality display. We first perform a usability test, where the participants complete a couple of exploratory tasks: one, identifying corresponding assets in a visualization, and two, identifying patterns/relationships between particular assets. Participants perform the same tasks using two different system configurations: using 2D visualization on LHRD, using 2D and 3D visualization together but as separate application, and using 2D visualization on LHRD and 3D visualization on Microsoft HoloLens with multiple coordinated views across the two systems. A pilot study were conducted on the experimental design on the relative effectiveness of the different setups towards accomplishing the given tasks. We further discuss how the results of the pilot study confirm current system design decisions, and also discuss additional user-centric characteristics that must be considered to inform future design decisions.