Interactive Augmented Reality-enabled Outdoor Scene Visualization For Enhanced Real-time Disaster Response

TL;DR

This paper introduces an AR interface utilizing 3D Gaussian Splatting for real-time outdoor scene visualization to aid disaster response, emphasizing low cognitive load and user-friendly interaction.

Contribution

It presents a novel AR system combining lightweight interaction, semantic POIs, and streaming updates, enhancing situational awareness in disaster management.

Findings

User feedback indicates the interface is easy to use and supports real-time coordination.

Performance evaluation shows high usability and acceptance.

Participants found POIs valuable for fast decision-making.

Abstract

A user-centered AR interface for disaster response is presented in this work that uses 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) to visualize detailed scene reconstructions, while maintaining situational awareness and keeping cognitive load low. The interface relies on a lightweight interaction approach, combining World-in-Miniature (WIM) navigation with semantic Points of Interest (POIs) that can be filtered as needed, and it is supported by an architecture designed to stream updates as reconstructions evolve. User feedback from a preliminary evaluation indicates that this design is easy to use and supports real-time coordination, with participants highlighting the value of interaction and POIs for fast decision-making in context. Thorough user-centric performance evaluation demonstrates strong usability of the developed interface and high acceptance ratios.