Immersive Analytics

The objective of the Immersive Analytics research area is to investigate the utilization of immersive human-computer interfaces to implement human-centered tools that support data understanding, analytical reasoning, and collaborative decision making in virtual information spaces. The motivation for this research direction originates from the various beneficial effects that immersion can have on the data analysis activity, for instance, facilitating user engagement to allow for focused data exploration and reflection, supporting a more intuitive 3D spatial understanding, and the decrease of information clutter. Immersive interfaces have the potential to synergize, complement, and enhance the broader analytical workflow through the provision of novel and embodied tools that aid with the human interpretation, contextualization, and meaning making of data.

Three main themes of particular interest within this research area are visualization, interaction, and collaboration. Visualization is concerned with investigating means of appropriately encoding and displaying visual data artifacts in the virtual information space. Rather than just passively observing these artifacts, the implementation of intuitive 3D spatial interaction mechanisms enables the user to actively conduct a variety of data analysis tasks. In addition, data analysis is seldom a solitary activity but conducted in collaboration with multiple users. Thus, there is the need to investigate collaborative system solutions that enable multiple users to explore, interpret, and discuss data together, either in the same virtual environment or using heterogeneous display and interaction techniques across different analysis modalities. Naturally, with the inherent focus on the human user at hand, empirical evaluations are a fundamental aspect of the conducted research to assess the developed data analysis tools.