When: Tuesday 7^th of May 9:30-11:00 CET

Where: Online, Register here for your zoom link

Program:
All times are in CET (Central European Time), e.g., Zurich, Switzerland

09:30-10:00 CET Trustworthy Maps? Case Studies from Managing Emergencies, Dr. Amy Griffin, Senior Lecturer RMIT University of Melbourne, Australia
10:00-10:15 Q&A Part 1 / Amy
10:15-10:30 CET Gamified XR for hazard preparedness in mining, Yan Wong, (incoming) PhD candidate, researcher, University of Pretoria, South Africa
10:30-10:45 CET 3D selection for point clouds in XR, Luca Fluri, MSc candidate, researcher, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Switzerland
10:45-11:00 Q&A Part 2 / Yan & Luca together

Amy Griffin’s abstract and bio

Trustworthy Maps? Case Studies from Managing Emergencies

We use maps to help us to manage emergencies of all kinds. For example, maps can show us areas of disaster risk. They can show us how to evacuate if we need to leave a risk zone. They can show us where disease outbreaks are happening or where vaccination rates are high. Public authorities often use maps to inform citizens about a situation and to persuade them to take a particular course of action. To be persuaded by a map, however, one must first trust it. Maps have historically been trusted sources of information but today they can be made by anyone with access to a computer. What makes for a trustworthy map? To what extent are contemporary maps trusted? Are different maps trusted similarly? When should maps be trusted? In this talk, I use case studies of bushfire mapping apps and COVID maps to explore the relevance of the concept of trust for mapmaking from a range of dimensions and perspectives to try to understand what makes a trustworthy map.

Bio Dr. Amy Griffin is a Senior Lecturer in Geospatial Science at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. She has a BA (Hons) in Geography from Macalester College (USA), and a MSc/PhD in Geography from Penn State University (USA). She was a Fulbright Fellow at the Ruhr Universität Bochum. She was president of the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) and is a former co-chair of the International Cartographic Association’s Research Commission on Cognitive Issues in Information Visualisation. She is currently a Vice President of the International Cartographic Association. Her cartographic research interests include investigating how perceptual, cognitive, and affective processes influence how people read maps and think and reason with maps and related information graphics. Much of her recent cartographic work has focused on emotional responses to maps and understanding how to make comprehensible and trusted maps for emergency situations. Together with her students, she has also published on a range of topics related to disaster and emergency management, human geography, and remote sensing.

Yan Wong’s abstract and bio

Gamified XR for hazard preparedness in mining

This action research study examines how meaningful choice design affects the overall meaningful learning experience of a virtual reality educational serious game. An intervention was developed to teach hazard detection in mines and was tested by BEng postgraduate students at the University of Pretoria. Findings suggested that the application of meaningful choice design enhanced the overall meaningful learning experience. Meaningful choice design allowed players to shape their experiences according to their strengths and weaknesses, facilitating their ability to create a unique flow and pace to achieve mastery over the content. Participants also felt the inclusion of meaningful choice design enhanced their overall experiences of the serious game which enriched their learning experiences. Recommendations for future research using serious games should explore the property of replayability, quantify the effects of positive game experience towards learning, and the application of other game design principles in educational serious games. This study contributes to the field of game-based education by highlighting the advantages of using game design techniques in game-based education applications, and the contribution of a positive play experience towards learning.

Bio Yan Wong has recently completed his master’s studies at the University of Pretoria and currently works in the Department of Information Science, sub-department of Multimedia. His research field is mainly game-based learning, user experience, and skill acquisition and he will begin his PhD this year in the field of game-based learning. Yan has developed multiple projects (varying in scale) using VR as the main medium and has a decent understanding of the development process, uses, potential, and other topics regarding the use of VR.

Luca Fluri’s abstract and bio

3D selection for point clouds in XR

Selection is a fundamental human-computer interaction paradigm and plays an important role in exploratory data analysis for scientific visualization, among others. Traditional selection methods originally designed for 2D fall short in 3D, e.g., in extended (virtual, augmented, mixed) reality. Furthermore, automated processes currently often require manual intervention, which results in a time-consuming and cumbersome process. Specifically, existing 2D solutions for displaying 3D data lack the benefits of 3D data viewing (e.g., conducting spatial operations or interpreting spatial relations related to depth); thus, a 3D selection solution is needed. While 3D approaches to selection exist, current solutions are mostly restricted to one specific selection mode and do not leverage improvements in hand-tracking technology. We developed, implemented, and user-tested a 3D selection concept based on hand-tracking for extended reality (XR) to fill this gap. Our solution enables users to interact with their data naturally and accurately. The combination of multiple selection modes allows for tailored precision to meet the user needs with differing tasks. The outcomes of this project contribute towards an intuitive, precise, and practical 3D selection during data analysis and research processes by leveraging cutting-edge extended reality (XR) based hand tracking technologies.

Bio Luca Fluri is a researcher and soon-to-be Master’s graduate at the Institute for Interactive Technologies (IIT), having completed his Bachelor’s in Computer Science, specializing in Design and Management, at the FHNW in 2021. He currently balances his role as a research assistant with his pursuit of a Master of Science in Engineering in Computer Science, exploring the area of hand-tracked 3D data selection, with a specific focus on point clouds in XR (Extended Reality).