Exploring whole-hand gestures in a tabletop environment for urban modeling

Abstract

Touch-based tabletop interaction with virtual environments (VEs) is a recent research interest. In particular, 3D navigation and object interaction on tabletops pose considerable research challenges given the flat, rectangular two-dimensional workspace of an interactive tabletop. This paper explores the design of whole-hand gestures for urban modeling on an interactive, tilted tabletop system. These touch-based gestures fit a hybrid 2D/3D approach for navigation and object interaction in urban city modeling. In a formal user study the proposed whole-hand gestural interface was compared to a finger-based equivalent. The evaluation results reveal appreciation for aspects of the interaction concept, also illustrating the need for further tuning of the interaction concept and the input tracking. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.