DOVAR: Data-on-Object Visualization with Virtual and Augmented Reality in Scientific Education

Abstract

Virtual and augmented reality is an emerging approach of visualization that provides immersive experience to users. The approach has been widely adopted in different domains such as training, remote conference, navigation, gaming, etc. In education, it has also been widely adopted. For example, the 3D virtual solar system scene has been implemented in multiple applications to help young kids and students to learn basic astronomical knowledge. However, most existing approaches focus on creating virtual objects that simulate real-world objects but on a different scale. In this paper, we propose DOVAR, a novel VR/AR-based visualization approach that visualizes real-time and accumulated data directly on virtual objects. In particular, DOVAR adds data points as colored accessories at different surfaces (i.e. polygons) of the 3D models in a VR or AR environment. Our experiment study on different usage cases shows that visualization technique can be helpful in teaching scientific concepts.