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Spatial Analytic Interfaces

Spatial Analytic Interfaces

We propose the concept of spatial analytic interfaces (SAIs) as a tool for performing in-situ, everyday analytic tasks. Mobile computing is now ubiquitous and provides access to information at nearly any time or place. However, current mobile interfaces do not easily enable the type of sophisticated analytic tasks that are now well-supported by desktop computers. Conversely, desktop computers, with large available screen space to view multiple data visualizations, are not always available at the ideal time and place for a particular task. Spatial user interfaces, leveraging state-of-the-art miniature and wearable technologies, can potentially provide intuitive computer interfaces to deal with the complexity needed to support everyday analytic tasks. These interfaces can be implemented with versatile form factors that provide mobility for doing such taskwork in-situ, that is, at the ideal time and place. We explore the design of spatial analytic interfaces for in-situ analytic tasks, that leverage the benefits of an upcoming generation of light-weight, see-through, head-worn displays. We propose how such a platform can meet the five primary design requirements for personal visual analytics: mobility, integration, interpretation, multiple views and interactivity. We begin with a design framework for spatial analytic interfaces based on a survey of existing designs of spatial user interfaces. We then explore how to best meet these requirements through a series of design concepts, user studies and prototype implementations. Our result is a holistic exploration of the spatial analytic concept on a head-worn display platform.

The final publication from this project was awarded Best Short Paper at SUI 2016 in Tokyo, Japan.

Project Publications

Spatial Analytic Interfaces (PhD Thesis)

Barrett Ens. 2016, Spatial Analytic Interfaces. PhD Thesis, University of Manitoba.

Shared Façades: Surface-Embedded Layout Management for Ad-Hoc Collaboration using Head-Worn Displays

Barrett Ens, Eyal Ofek, Neil Bruce, and Pourang Irani. 2016. Shared Façades: Surface-embedded layout management for ad-hoc collaboration using head-worn displays. Collaboration Meets Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (CMISS) – Theory and Practice. Craig Anslow, Pedro Campos, Joaquim Jorge, (Eds). Springer, in press.

Combining Ring Input with Hand Tracking for Precise, Natural Interaction with SAIs

Barrett Ens, Ahmad Byagowi, Teng Han, Juan David Hincapié-Ramos, Pourang Irani. 2016. Combining Ring Input with Hand Tracking for Precise, Natural Interaction with SAIs. In Proceedings of the 4th symposium on Spatial User Interactions (SUI '16), Tokyo, Japan. ACM, to appear.

Spatial Analytic Interfaces: Spatial User Interfaces for In-Situ Visual Analytics

Barrett Ens, Pourang Irani. 2016. Spatial Analytic Interfaces: Spatial User Interfaces for In-Situ Visual Analytics. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications , vol.37, issue 2, pp.66-79. DOI: 10.1109/MCG.2016.38

Spatial Constancy of Surface-Embedded Layouts across Multiple Environments

Barrett Ens, Eyal Ofek, Neil Bruce and Pourang Irani. 2015. Spatial Constancy of Surface-Embedded Layouts across Multiple Environments. In Proceedings of the 3rd symposium on Spatial User Interactions (SUI '15). Los Angeles, USA. ACM, 65-68.

Ethereal Planes: A Design Framework for 2D Information Spaces in 3D Mixed Reality Environments

Barrett Ens, Juan David Hincapié-Ramos and Pourang Irani. 2014. Ethereal Planes: A Design Framework for 2D Information Spaces in 3D Mixed Reality Environments. In Proceedings of the 2nd symposium on Spatial user interactions (SUI '14). Honolulu, USA, 2-12.

Personal Command and Control

Barrett Ens and Pourang Irani. 2014. Personal Command and Control: A Spatial Interface for Head-Worn Displays as a Platform for Everyday Visual Analytics. In Workshop on Personal Visual Analytics (DIS '14), Vancouver, Canada. 4 Pages.

The Personal Cockpit: A Spatial Interface for Effective Task Switching on Head-Worn Displays

Barrett Ens, Rory Finnegan and Pourang Irani. 2014. The Personal Cockpit: A Spatial Interface for Effective Task Switching on Head-Worn Displays. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors and Computing Systems (CHI '14). Toronto, Canada. ACM, 3171-3180.

Collaborators

Barrett Ens

Barrett Ens

Alumni
Pourang Irani

Pourang Irani

Professor
Canada Research Chair
at University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus
Teng Han

Teng Han

Alumni

As well as: Eyal Ofek, Neil Bruce