Using Spatially Aware Tangible Displays for Exploring Virtual Spaces

To solve the challenge of exploring large information spaces on interactive surfaces such as tabletops, we introduce SpaceLens, a spatially aware handheld display that provides elegant three-dimensional exploration of rich datasets. This can either be volumetric data, a layered information space or a zoomable information space, which are mapped to the virtual exploration volume above a stationary surface. By moving the lens through the volume, corresponding data is displayed, thus serving as a window into virtuality. Various interaction techniques are introduced, which especially utilize the Z-axis (lens height) in a novel way, e.g. for zooming or displaying various information layers. The SpaceLens implementation uses an optically tracked, passive, top-projected paper lens, which is cheap, lightweight and flexible. A formative user study gave valuable insight and confirmed an intuitive interaction. In addition, a marker-tracked, active UMPC lens allows data exploration without a contextual display.