PROPUESTA DE UN ENFOqUE DE ARqUITECTURA DE SOLUCIóN

The aim of this research project was to determine the usability and learn-ability of an interactive WebVR system for data visualization. Alternatively, the system was also built so that it can run on a Mac or PC’s Google Chrome browser. This project used the Samsung Galaxy S8 as the VR device and the VR Box along with Bluetooth controller as the equipment for viewing and interaction. The whole design process began with creation of sketches on a notebook and then creating the pro- totype for a multi-dimensional data-set. The data-set was collected from an online repository called UCI Machine Learning Repository [18]. The prototype underwent several iterations until the 3D scatter plot was finalized. This project used a WebVR framework called A-frame for creating the virtual reality scene and D3.js for plotting the data points in a 3D environment. A new user interface was also developed for interacting with the application. The VR Box and the Bluetooth controller were the most accessible and cost-effective equipment available in the market at the moment. One of the main reasons for bringing this application into the WebVR environment was due to its high accessibility and maintainability.

8.1 Limitations and Future Discussion

For WebVR applications, performance always plays a vital role in providing the best experience to the user. And a lot of it has to do with maintaining a high frame- rate which was one of the main limitations that this project encountered. Also, this project used cubes instead of other shapes such as a sphere or cylinder because cubes have the least number of sub divisions (polygon count) which also affects the overall performance. This project was tested with the latest android phone i.e. the

company called Looker. They created their own custom APIs and are using the HTC Vive as the virtual reality device [5]. This corroborates that WebVR although in its experimental phase is already becoming one of the popular technologies to emerge in recent times due to its wide array of applications and high compatibility across many domains.

In the near future, this project hopes that it can provide sufficient information in creating a visualization platform that can have different graphs and data-sets in a WebVR setting for smart-phones where data changes can be seen in real time and implemented across various domains. Since the processing power of smart-phones are increasing at a rapid pace, they may potentially become one of the competing medi- ums for visualizing and analyzing multi-dimensional data in future. This could also means providing more interaction with data-points using innovative input technology such as hand gloves or 3D mouse. If smart-phones are utilized in an effective manner for visualization, it could potentially become a viable option in the field of technology and science which is highly portable, accessible and affordable as well as at the same time it could also provide a gateway for interdisciplinary research and applications.

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