Virtual Environments for Data Sharing and Visualisation - Populated Information Terrains

The Concept of Populated Information Terrains (PITS) aims to extend database technology with key ideas from the new fields of Virtual Reality (VR) and Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). PITS are virtual data spaces which support visualisation of, and cooperative work within, shared data. This paper identifies key techniques for building PITS for various types of database, including multidimensional visualisation, statistical approaches, graph drawing techniques and human centred approaches. We then discuss issues concerned with populating such terrains including communication between users, embodiment of users, peripheral awareness of others and the relation to database concurrency control. Finally, we describe a prototype implementation that demonstrates the concept of PITS and which helps clarifies key design issues for future full-scale implementations.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1994
• Where: IDS
• Authors: Steve Benford, John A. Mariani
• Keywords: Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Cooperative Work, Database, IDS 1994, Populated Information Terrains