Slicing the aurora: An immersive proxemics-aware visualization

Research output: Contribution to book/conference proceedings/anthology/reportConference contributionContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Sebastian Lay - , University of Calgary , TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)
  • Jo Vermeulen - , University of Calgary (Author)
  • Charles Perin - , University of Calgary (Author)
  • Eric Donovan - , University of Calgary (Author)
  • Raimund Dachselt - , Chair of Multimedia Technology (Author)
  • Sheelagh Carpendale - , University of Calgary (Author)

Abstract

The Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights is a phenomenon that has fascinated people throughout history. The AuroraMAX outreach initiative provides a collection of time-lapse videos of the night sky captured by a camera at Yellowknife in Canada. We present an interactive visualization of this AuroraMAX image data on a large touch display. Our visualization slices each time-lapse video to represent an entire night as a single image or keogram, provides different views on the keograms, and allows people to explore and compare nights to discover interesting patterns. To entice people to interact, we use proxemic interaction and animate the visualization in response to people's movements in front of the display. We deployed the visualization in a public space at an art-science festival. Initial findings suggest that the proxemic interaction aspect helps to draw people in and that the visualization generates interest from passersby, providing opportunities for science outreach.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCompanion Proceedings of the 2016 ACM International Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages91-97
Number of pages7
ISBN (electronic)9781450345309
Publication statusPublished - 6 Nov 2016
Peer-reviewedYes

Publication series

SeriesConference ISS - ISS: Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (previously ITS: Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces)

Conference

Title11th Annual ACM International Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces, ISS Companion 2016
Duration6 - 9 November 2016
CityNiagara Falls
CountryCanada

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-2176-876X/work/159171505

Keywords

Keywords

  • Aurora borealis, Information visualization, Interactive surfaces, Large displays, Proxemic interaction