Visualizing Data in a 3D World
Not only can 3D worlds be used for the recreation of physcial spaces (not the best use) but they can also be used for “other worldly” interfaces…one such example is the visualization of information in ways not prevously possible.
Check out this article Visualization of Statistics in Virtual Reality
As the article states:
Visualization of statistics in virtual reality offers new possibilities for the representation of statistics. One can operate, inspect and thus physically experience them in the virtual reality by means of an avatar….The virtual statistic space consists of different layers with different topics. The user can operate and navigate these layers by means of two interface devices. Each layer is subdivided into five areas that examine the different topics in different intensity. Sensors of approximation and touch note the position and the line of sight of the user avatar and induce the representation of dynamic information
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Posted in: Second Life 3D worlds
Leave a Comment (3) ↓
Hi, Dr. Kapp… Ryan Sittler… now THIS is what I want to see in a virtual world… new ways to interface with data.
Ever since I saw “Minority Report” — I’ve been fascinated with the notion of interacting with information in new ways. My Nintendo Wii got me a bit closer… but not close enough. Anyway, I think this could be great for improving instruction… simply because these unique interfaces are inherently more “grokkable” than standard ways of working with data. (I teach so many students how to search databases… and the interfaces… though good… cannot compete with something like this.)
Now this is cool. I think that we’ll begin to see many specialized uses of virtual “worlds”, similar to how we have specialized desktop applications such as Photoshop and Maya now. The best part of a tool such as this is the ability to share the data with others. I think it would be awesome if there was a standard format a la .doc or .xls that could be email to others and allow them to pull it up in a virtual world right on their desktop. This specialized use, data visualization, is definitely one where interoperability is key. Very interesting!
Virtual worlds are particularly well-suited to data visualization. You might be interested in the Green Phosphor solution for Second Life, Wonderland and other worlds. I wrote up my initial experiences with here. Here’s related post on multi-dimensional visualization.