HiruXR: a Web library for Collaborative and Interactive Data Visualizations in XR and 2D

Abstract

HiruXR is a Javascript library aimed at creating collaborative and interactive data visualizations in eXtended Reality (XR). Developers can use it to create environments where multiple users can communicate and collaborate around one or many visualizations. We want to open these environments to users with 2D displaying and interaction capabilities, e.g. allowing them to collaborate from their laptops and phones with others using Head Mounted Displays (HMD). But displaying the same interface is not optimal, users should see an interface according to their device capabilities. Therefore, we are steering the design of HiruXR towards supporting responsiveness without putting all the burden in application developers. The library defines visualization, interaction and collaboration components that adapt to the user device capabilities, i.e. 2D or XR. In this paper, we share the design philosophy, initial implementation examples and lessons learned so far building some of these components for collaboration between VR and 2D devices.