Uplift: Immersive Tabletop System for Collaborative Visual Analytics
Designing immersive collaboration using Augmented Reality.
Uplift supports engaging embodied interaction with intuitive widgets using a multi-touch tabletop display environment with AR and a physical reference model. In this way, it supports Casual Collaborative Visual Analytics (CCVA) with the help of a tabletop display, tangible widgets, and Augmented Reality (AR). Although, what all does “immersive tabletops with AR that support collaboration in information visualization” entail?
The UpLift System
Embodiment of virtual objects using physical artefacts, often called Tangible user interfaces (TUI), are beneficial in eyes-free visualization tasks and have an impact on memorization, proprioception, and user experience. A prototype that supports this is shown below. The figure shows a 3D mouse to explore 3D scans in Cave VR. Expert evaluation showed that this mouse helped users perform complex tasks without any training.
Collaborative visual analytics, on the other hand, leverages social interaction to support data exploration and sensemaking. These processes are typically imagined as formalized, extended activities, between groups of dedicated experts, requiring expertise with sophisticated data analysis tools.
The multi-touch surface of the tabletop provides appropriate techniques to select 3D models and manipulate them, as well as to perform more complex scene management like creating and manipulating complex 3D visualizations, and analyzing CT scans. On the other hand, AR is used to complement tabletops by adding a third interactive dimension
Uplift uses a combination of (1) personal hand-held displays to provide sustainability data dashboards, (2) the tabletop to provide a collaborative surface, (3) and the wall display provides a 3D view to support collaboration in immersive information visualization with the help of tabletops and AR. It presents a prototype system to support ‘casual collaborative visual analytics’ (CCVA) for a “campus microgrid”, co-designed with local stakeholders.
What is a microgrid?
A microgrid is a self-sufficient intelligent energy system that serves a discrete geographic footprint, such as a college campus, hospital complex, business center, or neighborhood. Within microgrids are one or more kinds of distributed energy systems (solar panels, wind turbines, combined heat & power, generators) that produce its power. The intelligence of microgrids emanates from the microgrid controller -the central brain of the system, that manages the generators, batteries, and nearby building energy systems with a high degree of sophistication. The controller orchestrates multiple resources to meet the energy goals which may be to achieve lowest prices, cleanest energy, greatest electric reliability, etc. that are established by the microgrid’s customers.
Thus, a microgrid is a smart electricity network where supply and demand are effectively controlled and managed to optimize energy use with levels of generation and storage.
As part of a commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2030, Monash University is building a state-of-the-art microgrid on the largest campus in Clayton, Victoria. Thus, Uplift is co-designed with these local stakeholders and domain experts.
Let’s take a look at Uplift’s prototype to understand how it visualizes this microgrid and it’s interaction features.
- Tabletop Surface Visualization: Uplift supports three different base maps. On top of this base map, users have the option to select three different layers that can be toggled individually. Each layer shows a different aspect of the microgrid and addresses a different user task. The PV layer shows the locations and sizes of all the PV panels that are generating energy in the microgrid. The station layer shows the locations of main and sub-power stations in the microgrid. The network lines layer shows the power network lines connecting these components.
- Embedded Data Visualization: Visualizing building energy consumption is done by encoding the relative energy used by each building as a color displayed directly on the building surface.
- Situated Data Visualizations: Uplift’s use of AR allows other data visualizations to be spatially situated in space above and around the tabletop.
The system also has several tangible controls:
- Drilling Down in Time: The time granularity picker is used to select the time granularity of the temporal data visualizations. The selection is controlled by moving the tangible widget between several slider regions (yearly, monthly, weekly, daily and hourly) on the tabletop display
- Sliding Through Time: The time slider allows users to navigate within the chosen date granularity.
- ‘Lifting’ Time Above the Tabletop: The time slider contains a hinge that acts as a mode switch — when a user lifts the slider to its vertical position, the space-time cube visualization appears above the buildings
- Inspecting Buildings more Closely: Uplift takes advantage of the natural affordance of building widgets by allowing users to pick them up to view a detailed virtual building model through the AR display
Uplift in Action
This implementation of this novel prototype can be seen in action here:
Conclusion
Uplift is a prototype system aimed at supporting CCVA, and is very beneficial in breaking down knowledge silos between occupants and users, data storytelling to educate energy users, and providing a intuitive overview for identifying patterns such as peak-demand or correlation form data across a large network. Even though Uplift was formalized for CCVA in a microgrid system it is applicable in other domains as well. For instance, the construction industry could overlay building sensor and occupancy data on a physical model through the planning, building, and maintenance stages of a building lifecycle.
In general, systems similar to Uplift can benefit collaboration in domains that rely on analysis of complex systems data in conjunction with spatial data or assets.
