Hybrid AR User Interfaces in Collaborative Gaming
Adrian Clark
Department of Computer Science
University of Canterbury
Abstract
This report documents the design and implementation of a number of hybrid user interfaces for the SmartSpace project. The SmartSpace project’s aim was to explore “how hybrid user interfaces can be developed that employ multi-modal input and display techniques to enable users to visualize and interact with geospatial content”(Billinghurst 2003). A proposed application of such a project was for a Command and Control application, for example a military operation where commanding officers need to visualize real-time data from soldiers in the field. The system designed for this project was based on a simulation of a military scenario, where teams of two or more players compete against each other by controlling a number of tanks, which they can order to capture objectives or attack the other team’s tanks. Because of the three dimensional characteristic of the environment in which this simulation takes place, an Augmented Reality interface was developed to allow users to view the data presented. Due to the non-tangible nature of Augmented Reality interfaces, a number of hybrid interfaces had to be developed to allow users to interact with the system.
