The Effect of Display Size on Navigation in a Virtual Environment

Abstract

When navigating in a virtual environment, a user has to solve several problems, such as finding the target and moving towards this target. A variation of navigation metaphors have been defined, each of them with its own merits and problems. On the other hand, different output devices, such as a regular computer monitor or a large display can be used in order to visualize the virtual world. The characteristics of these devices, such as the field of view, also influence the user's performance. In this paper, we investigate how different combinations of navigation metaphors and output devices influence the efficiency of a navigation task. From a user study we conclude that the ideal combination of navigation metaphor and output device depends on the user's experience with 3D environments.