VR binoculars: An immersive visualization framework for IoT data streams

Every day we find ourselves moving through a blend of material spaces and immaterial networks. This invisible layer created from the millions of the data streams and network connections that take place around us tends to get denser with the recent development and deployment of the IoT devices in the urban space. In our work we aim to explore how the available technology of Mixed Reality spectrum can be applied to provide us an immerse view of the information that exist within the invisible layer of the “cyberspace” [1]. To this extend, we propose “VR Binoculars”, a digital visualization framework that operates in real time.The available Virtual (VR), Augmented (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) technology is used as a medium to unveil the information that exist in our surrounding space. Specifically, we situate the user within an environment where the digital data visualizations and the physical space are matched together, providing to the user the ability to interact, orient themselves and navigate naturally.For us the proposed framework it is able to promote a better understanding of the IoT ecosystem, it can justify the use of sensors in the public space, and it can raise awareness about privacy and data sharing. Using different urban environments as test cases (indoor, outdoor) we present our methodology and our first results