Point-Tap, Tap-Tap, and the Effect of Familiarity: to Enhance the Usability of See-and-Select in Smart Space

We prototyped two selection techniques, Point-Tap and Tap-Tap, and conducted experiments to assess their characteristics, in particular how familiarity with a space affects their usability. Both techniques were developed to enhance the capability of the general ”pointing gesture” and ”map with live video” techniques. The goal of both techniques is to acquire a target object in smart space, and they share the concept of ”see-and-select,” which allows users to select an object while seeing the objects with their own eyes. Consequently, users must rely on the spatial locations of objects when using the techniques. According to spatial cognition science, humans recognize object locations in two ways, egocentrically and allocentrically, and some work has pointed out that users rely on allocentric representations more once they have become familiar with a space. Indeed, in our experiments, users who were familiar with the space could use the ”map with live video” technique more effectively. The two main contributions of this paper are the presentation of the new techniques themselves, and the identification of a major factor for applying the techniques, namely, the users’expected familiarity with a space.