Information Visualization in Desktop Virtual Reality

Desktop virtual reality (VR) offers a powerful environment for visualizing structure in large information sets. In well-designed virtual worlds, users can employ skills from wayfinding in the real world. This paper reports the development and testing of a series of prototype VR worlds, designed to support navigation during information visualization and retrieval. Results indicated that users’ sense of presence, ease of use and preference were affected by degree of spatial cueing, but target-hunting performance was not. The virtual world with strongest spatial cues caused poorer user performance than a comparable hypertext interface, but was rated as more enjoyable. The final VR prototype was no worse than hypertext in user performance; the prototype shows the potential for navigable VR that is engaging and useful for everyday information exploration.