Comment by stcredzero

7 years ago

Maps are one very good example of this. A map is partially so powerful because it removes a ton of information you probably don't care about...Sure. But most of the time who cares.

This is usually true, but then again, there is the flip side. There are exceptions to this, and those exceptions may be interesting areas of inquiry. In particular, there are situations where one would like to go from a map representation to seeing relationships which can't be readily expressed in a map. One example of this would be evaluating views from a house. Another example, would be the layout of ducting within the ceiling or within crawl spaces. Another example would be evaluating lines of sight or lines of fire within a particular scene.

Often, this can be handled as something like a relief map or a scale model which can be manipulated and zoomed into by the user in VR, but the exceptions to the "a map is usually enough" seem to coincide with areas where VR/AR might be particularly interesting.

I think there might be some relationship here to Archy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy

3 comments

stcredzero

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DubiousPusher  7 years ago

I completely agree. A lot of what my team works on is finding those cases where a 3D view has a very high value. One example is a project we worked on that allows construction companies to use the 3D CAD data for their project as a setting to move equipment through. It's not unheard of for a company to bring a piece of equipment on site only to find it cannot move through a given space because material is in the way. Sometimes a partially complete structure which could've been built later is impassable. This is a situation in which a completely 3D representation is really powerful and the effort can save significant money in the long run.

I think there are absolutely cases where 3D interfaces will blow away 2D ones. We're on the road to discovering those. But the industry has had a tendency to try to take what works in 2D and make a 3D version, often ending with a user experience that is less intuitive and less powerful.

The 3D interfaces that are really going to make a difference will probably take decades to invent/discover. Our 2D interfaces have had literally thousands of years to develop.

  • stcredzero  7 years ago

    It's not unheard of for a company to bring a piece of equipment on site only to find it cannot move through a given space because material is in the way.

    This is precisely the kind of situation I was thinking about!

    This is a situation in which a completely 3D representation is really powerful and the effort can save significant money in the long run.

    I think this is a key criteria for determining what problems should be looked at.