Lazy panorama monopoly table: Take your city for a spin

Abstract

While conventional information displays are still effective, a lack of integration between descriptive and contextual information means they cannot be used independently of additional external information. New digital systems such as Google Maps are increasing in popularity. Unfortunately these present some limitations in terms of understanding both route and survey information, and in particular navigation and orientation, such as intuitively understanding a plan view no matter which way one is facing, so visitors can quickly and intuitively learn how to get to specific buildings or to specific facilities. Digital systems may also alienate older and non computer literate users; and they display contextual information inside an interface which limits the possible range of interaction methods offered by physical interaction. Our solution was to create a 3D physical model that one could spin, which would in turn display digital panoramas that spun in rotational alignment with the physical city model. Further, the user could place category tokens in intersections of the city model, which would bring up digital panoramas on the screen and highlight facilities linked to the category chosen. Rotating the token would also rotate the digital panorama.