Abstract information visualization in interactive 3D virtual environments: conceptualization and usability evaluation

Abstract information refers to information that a user can't directly obtain just by visualizing the spatial information of objects in a 3D virtual environment (3DVE). This thesis first reviews the state of the art on interactive 3DVEs development, abstract information visualization techniques and the evaluation of interactive 3DVEs. Then, this thesis presents a conceptual model, reusable toolkit and usability evaluation methodology for comparing the usability of different abstract information visualization techniques. In order to control the navigation skill variable, the design of a constrained navigation approach for teleporting the user from one user context to another is proposed. Finally, this thesis presents case studies for validating the proposed conceptual model, toolkit and usability evaluation methodology by performing usability testing experiments. The contributions of this thesis are a conceptual model, reusable toolkit and usability evaluation methodology for measuring and comparing the usability of abstract information visualization techniques in interactive 3DVEs