"Making the Tour: Effectively Implementing Navigation, Realism, and Information Dissemination Using Principles of Human-Computer Interaction in a 3D Environment Created in the X3D Format"
Jesse Smith 2005
Abstract
Human-Computer Interaction encompasses a diverse range of topics dealing with the relationship between users and computers. HCI investigates seemingly unrelated issues such as how the layout of systems hardware affects the user ’s ability to accomplish a task and how a graphical user interface affects the user ’s interaction with a program.
One area of HCI addresses how users interact with a 3D virtual environment. The HCI principles of navigation, realism, and information dissemination are three major considerations when creating a useful 3D environment. These principles can guide the production of an environment that focuses on intuitive ease of use and effective information communication.
This IS project uses these principles to create a 3D virtual tour of Taylor Hall. Taylor Hall is an academic building at The College of Wooster in which the Computer Science, Mathematics, and Physics departments are located. The 3D Taylor Hall world is an accurate representation of its real world counterpart, is able to be navigated by the user, and has methods for providing information about the majors, students, faculty, and staff that occupy the building.