Cost-benefit Analysis of Visualization in Virtual Environments

TL;DR

This paper conducts a cost-benefit analysis of visualization in virtual environments using an information-theoretic approach, explaining why some applications benefit more and suggesting future development pathways.

Contribution

It introduces a novel cost-benefit framework for evaluating visualization in VEs and explains variability in application benefits based on cognitive and system factors.

Findings

Cost-benefit analysis explains application variability in VE benefits.

Theoretical insights supported by cognitive science and practical evidence.

Pathways for future visualization development in VEs are proposed.

Abstract

Visualization and virtual environments (VEs) have been two interconnected parallel strands in visual computing for decades. Some VEs have been purposely developed for visualization applications, while many visualization applications are exemplary showcases in general-purpose VEs. Because of the development and operation costs of VEs, the majority of visualization applications in practice are yet to benefit from the capacity of VEs. In this paper, we examine this perplexity from an information-theoretic perspective. Our objectives are to conduct cost-benefit analysis on typical VE systems (including augmented and mixed reality, theatre-based systems, and large powerwalls), to explain why some visualization applications benefit more from VEs than others, and to sketch out pathways for the future development of visualization applications in VEs. We support our theoretical propositions and analysis using theories and discoveries in the literature of cognitive sciences and the practical evidence reported in the literatures of visualization and VEs.