ward the Establishment of Design Guidelines forEffective 3D Perspective Interfaces

摘要

The propagation of information operation technologies, with correspondingly vast amounts of complex networkinformation to be conveyed, significantly impacts operator workload. Information management research is rife withefforts to develop schemes to aid operators to identify, review, organize, and retrieve the wealth of available data. Datamay take on such distinct forms as intelligence libraries, logistics databases, operational environment models, or networktopologies. Increased use of taxonomies and semantic technologies opens opportunities to employ network visualizationas a display mechanism for diverse information aggregations. The broad applicability of network visualizations is stillbeing tested, but in current usage, the complexity of densely populated abstract networks suggests the potential utility of3D. Employment of 2.5D in network visualization, using classic perceptual cues, creates a 3D experience within a 2Dmedium. It is anticipated that use of 3D perspective (2.5D) will enhance user ability to visually inspect large, complex,multidimensional networks. Current research for 2.5D visualizations demonstrates that display attributes, includingcolor, shape, size, lighting, atmospheric effects, and shadows, significantly impact operator experience. However,guidelines for utilization of attributes in display design are limited. This paper discusses pilot experimentation intendedto identify potential problem areas arising from these cues and determine how best to optimize perceptual cue settings.Development of optimized design guidelines will ensure that future experiments, comparing network displays with othervisualizations, are not confounded or impeded by suboptimal attribute characterization. Current experimentation isanticipated to support development of cost-effective, visually effective methods to implement 3D in militaryapplications.