3D-in-2D Planar View Display

1. A Brief Involvement in the User research and proposal generation 3D-in-2D Planar View Display Interaction Design Centre, Middlesex University, London, UK

2. The Spectrum of Combined 3D/2D Displays • 2D plan view displays • 3D virtual world, perspective displays • Side-by-side displays • Correlated - • Non-correlated • Overlaid displays • Un-correlated • Integrated displays • 3D (spatial) visualisations in context of 2D displays • 4D (space + time) integration

3. The idea proposed: • A visualisation system for air traffic control • Provide support for spatial awareness of dynamic 3D tactical air traffic control situations • Localised 3D perspective view of the airspace displayed in a 3D "bubble”, displayed on demand • The 3D visualisation in a 2D plan view radar display, eliminates the need to shift focus • Integrated within the context and the same visual field of view of a 2D planar ATC radar display. • The integration of 3D visualisation in a 2D plan view radar display is anticipated to eliminate the need to shift focus • Incorporate temporal design in the localised 3D representation • To support spatial-temporal reasoning

4. Background (i):Requirements based on Operational Work Analysis • 2 Field Studies in Air Traffic Control Centres: • Ethnographic observations of controllers at work • Focus Groups with controllers • Critical Decision Making Interviews • In depth interviews • Outcomes: • Spatial Temporal Framework (Rozzi et. al. 2006; Wong et. al. 2006), to think about classes of Visual Requirements • 4D Visual Requirements to support controller’s Spatial temporal reasoning. Main requirement was to provide: • 2D to maintain control over the all traffics active in the sector • 3D + Time picture to access detailed information on demand, in the specific portion of the sector • Carried out prototyping workshop to design and redesign visual concepts

5. Background (ii):Why the 3D-in-2D display is innovative? • Previous research directed at: • Comparing 2D vs 3D • Evaluating visuo-spatial tasks and visual search tasks • See Smallman, et al (2001), Xu and Rantanen (2003), Van Orden and Broyles (2000) • Assessing strength of 3D over 2D for assessing tactical situations • 3D was found to have advantages over 2D • (i) Navigation, (ii) spatial awareness, (iii) integration and focussed attention tasks (see Naikar, 1998, for rigorous review) • Minimises interpretive effort for understanding tactical situations (Haskell and Wickens, 1993; van Orden and Broyles, 2000; Dennehy et al, 1994)

6. Drawbacks of 3D • Poor distance estimation in 3D (see Tavanti, 2004, for a review) • Distance between objects along line of sight hard to estimate • Realism in scene can clutter the display • Poor 3D interaction / navigation techniques • Selection in 3D is difficult • 2D however does not suffer from these problems • But due to lack of 3rd dimension, requires greater mental effort to construct a mental representation • Therefore: integrate 3D into 2D, to take advantage of the synergies that arise

7. Focus and Context Visualization Techniques_Filtering Bifocal lens applied to London Underground Map (Leung and Apperley, 1994)

8. Focus and Context Visualization Techniques_ Distortion (La Mar 2001)

9. Focus and Context Visualization Techniques_ Semantic Depth of Field (SDOF) (Tory & Moller, 2004)

10. Proof of concept: MU’s Picture in Picture

11. Proof of concept: SA’s Distortion Lens

12. Proof of concept: DV’s Lente

13. Conclusion • While there are 3D visualisations and attempts to extend 3D into 4D by including temporal representations, none have attempted to integrate and blend 3/4D visualisation within a 2D radar display. • Evaluate current F+C implementations • Review and construct new F+C display for Air Traffic Control