A Pilot Study Comparing User Interactions Between Augmented and Virtual Reality

Immersive Analytics (IA) and consumer adoption of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) are both rapidly growing. When used in conjunction, stereoscopic IA environments can offer improved user understanding and engagement; however, it is unclear how the choice of stereoscopic display impacts user interactions within an IA environment. This paper presents a pilot study that examines the impact of stereoscopic display choice on object manipulation and environmental navigation using consumer-available AR and VR HMDs. Our observations indicate that the display can impact how users manipulate virtual content and how they navigate the environment.