TY - JOUR
T1 - Effectiveness of a semi-immersive virtual environment in understanding human-environment interactions
AU - Edsall, Robert M.
AU - Larson, Kelli
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. SES-0345945 Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC). The Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Affairs of Arizona State University is acknowledged for their contributions in supporting research at the Decision Theater. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF. We also thank Patricia Gober, Bill Edwards, Matthew Kruger, Jessica Block, Deirdre Hahn, John Shaeffer, Barbara Trapido-Lurie and Margaret Nelson for their assistance with this project. For more information about the Decision Theater at Arizona State University, please visit www. decisiontheater.org.
PY - 2009/10
Y1 - 2009/10
N2 - Virtual environments and related technology generate interest and excitement. Their power is strengthened with empirical evidence of their utility for scientific inquiry and decision-making. This paper reports on a study to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual environment (VE) presentations about issues typical of those facing decision makers in a rapidly growing urban area. The presentations consisted of the explanation and visualization of two phenomena-groundwater overdraft and the urban heat island. The virtual environment utilized in this study, Arizona State University's Decision Theater, is purported to help policy makers and the larger community visualize complex model output and make decisions about scientific issues. To begin to assess these claims, we carried out a user test during which a group of research participants were given two surveys, one before the presentations, to determine a priori understanding, and a second afterwards, with the same questions. This methodology allowed us to carry out within-subjects tests concerning contrasting phenomena, in order to assess two primary hypotheses: (1) knowledge and perceptions of environmental phenomena will change after the viewing, and (2) understanding will vary based on the phenomena in the presentations. Our analysis shows at least some level of support for the hypotheses, with evidence that the virtual environment positively influenced understanding, and that there may be important differences in insight generation based on characteristics of the phenomena represented. Finally, we outline critical areas of future research to further knowledge about the impact of visual VE settings on understanding and decision making.
AB - Virtual environments and related technology generate interest and excitement. Their power is strengthened with empirical evidence of their utility for scientific inquiry and decision-making. This paper reports on a study to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual environment (VE) presentations about issues typical of those facing decision makers in a rapidly growing urban area. The presentations consisted of the explanation and visualization of two phenomena-groundwater overdraft and the urban heat island. The virtual environment utilized in this study, Arizona State University's Decision Theater, is purported to help policy makers and the larger community visualize complex model output and make decisions about scientific issues. To begin to assess these claims, we carried out a user test during which a group of research participants were given two surveys, one before the presentations, to determine a priori understanding, and a second afterwards, with the same questions. This methodology allowed us to carry out within-subjects tests concerning contrasting phenomena, in order to assess two primary hypotheses: (1) knowledge and perceptions of environmental phenomena will change after the viewing, and (2) understanding will vary based on the phenomena in the presentations. Our analysis shows at least some level of support for the hypotheses, with evidence that the virtual environment positively influenced understanding, and that there may be important differences in insight generation based on characteristics of the phenomena represented. Finally, we outline critical areas of future research to further knowledge about the impact of visual VE settings on understanding and decision making.
KW - Decision making
KW - Environmental perception
KW - Virtual reality
KW - Visualization
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U2 - 10.1559/152304009789786317
DO - 10.1559/152304009789786317
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:72449139999
SN - 1523-0406
VL - 36
SP - 367
EP - 384
JO - Cartography and Geographic Information Science
JF - Cartography and Geographic Information Science
IS - 4
ER -