Multi-Point Interactions with Immersive Omnidirectional Visualizations in a Dome

Hrvoje Benko        Andrew D. Wilson
Microsoft Research
Redmond, WA

This paper describes an interactive immersive experience using mid-air gestures to interact with a large curved display: a projected dome. Our Pinch-the-Sky Dome is an immersive installation where several users can interact simultaneously with omnidirectional data using freehand gestures. The system consists of a single centrally-located omnidirectional projector-camera unit where the projector is able to project an image spanning the entire 360 degrees and a camera is used to track gestures for navigation of the content. We combine speech commands with freehand pinch and clasping gestures and infra-red laser pointers to provide a highly immersive and interactive experience to several users inside the dome, with a very wide field of view for each user. The interactive applications include: 1) the astronomical data exploration, 2) social networking 3D graph visualizations, 3) immersive panoramic images, 4) 360 degree video conferencing, 5) a drawing canvas, and 6) a multi-user interactive game. Finally, we discuss the user reactions and feedback from two demo events where more than 1000 people had the chance to experience our work.

Hrvoje Benko and Andrew D. Wilson. 2010. Multi-point interactions with immersive omnidirectional visualizations in a dome. In ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces (ITS '10). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 19-28.