This thesis explores the use of location-based augmented reality to transform our perception of the built environment. In the artwork, the historic Armory building in the Town of Blacksburg which serves as home to the School of Visual Arts (SOVA) at Virginia Tech is used as a locus of changing functions, social impact, and evolution. In this case, its history is used to creatively visualize the overlooked narrative in familiar spaces through augmented reality (AR) murals. AR is an artistic medium that unveils rich hidden histories, sparks conversation, and promotes deeper connection between people and places. I drew inspiration from contemporary artists such as Brian Peterson, the social narrative of the WPA mural initiative, and Kandinsky's vibrant abstract work. The project utilizes Google's ARCore framework in the Unity game engine as well as Google's Geospatial API with the aim to creatively reveal hidden narratives in places and promote positive social engagements. / Master of Fine Arts / Augmented reality (AR) has increasingly become popular and social media applications like Instagram and Snapchat and more immersive mixed reality headsets like the Meta Quest 3 has allowed people all over the world to connect in unique ways and have shared unreal experiences. AR allows digital visuals to exist and blend with the space around us. For me, this unlocks the potential to create new forms of artworks, to creatively display those unreal or forgotten events that have happened in the past and because it is AR, they can exist right at the space they once occurred. One benefit of this is that it can be applied to any space, landmarks, or obscure places, and can be used to pull people together to engage in new ways. After looking at works from other artists; muralists, painters, AR artists, I created an AR mural artwork to creatively display the hidden narratives of the Armory building in Blacksburg Virginia. I used artistic and technical tools such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Google's AR technologies and Unity, a 3-dimensional and 2-dimensional game creation software to create the AR murals and lock it to the longitude and latitude of the space around the Armory building. One reason I chose this place as a point of reference is because its function has changed multiple times since its construction in 1936.

Work on Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) task interaction and visualization paradigms has typically focused on providing information about the current task step (a cue) immediately before or during its performance. For sequential tasks that involve multiple steps, providing information about the next step (a precue) might also benefit the user. Some research has shown the advantages of simultaneously providing a cue and a precue in path-following tasks. We explore the use of precues in VR and AR for both path-following and object-manipulation tasks involving rotation. We address the effectiveness of different numbers and kinds of precues for different tasks. To achieve this, we conducted a series of user studies: First, we investigate whether it would be possible to improve efficiency by precueing information about multiple upcoming steps before completing the current step in a planar path-following task. To accomplish this, we developed a VR user study comparing task completion time and subjective metrics for different levels and styles of precueing. Our task-guidance visualizations vary the precueing level (number of steps precued in advance) and style (whether the path to a target is communicated through a line to the target, and whether the place of a target is communicated through graphics at the target). Participants in our study performed best when given two to three precues for visualizations using lines to show the path to targets. However, performance degraded when four precues were used. On the other hand, participants performed best with only one precue for visualizations without lines, showing only the places of targets, and performance degraded when a second precue was given. In addition, participants performed better using visualizations with lines than ones without lines. Second, we extend the idea of precueing information about multiple steps to a more complex task, whose subtasks involve moving to and picking up a physical object, moving that object to a designated place in the same plane while rotating it to a specific angle in the plane, and depositing it. We conducted two user studies to examine how people accomplish this task while wearing an AR headset, guided by different visualizations that cue and precue movement and rotation. Participants performed best when given movement information for two successive subtasks (one movement precue) and rotation information for a single subtask (no rotation precue). In addition, participants performed best when the visualization of how much to rotate was split across the manipulated object and its destination. Third, we investigate whether and how much precued rotation information might improve user performance in AR. We consider two unimanual tasks: one requires a participant to make sequential rotations of a single physical object in a plane, and the other requires the participant to move their hand between multiple such objects to rotate them in the plane in sequence. We conducted a user study to explore these two tasks using circular arrows to communicate rotation. In the single-object task, we examined the impact of number of precues and visualization style on participant performance. Results show that precues could improve performance and that arrows with highlighted heads and tails, with each rotation destination aligned with the next origin, yielded the shortest completion time on average. In the multiple-object task, we explored whether rotation precues can be helpful in conjunction with movement precues. Here, using a rotation cue without rotation precues in conjunction with a movement cue and movement precues performed the best, implying that rotation precues were not helpful when movement was also required. Fourth, we address sequential tasks involving 3DoF rotations and 3DoF translations in headset AR. In each step, a participant picks up a physical object, rotates it in 3D while translating it in 3D, and deposits it in a target 6DoF pose. We designed and compared two types of visualizations for cueing and precueing steps in such a task: Action-based visualizations show the actions needed to carry out a step and goal-based visualizations show the desired end state of a step. We conducted a user study to evaluate these visualizations and their efficacy for precueing. Participants performed better with goal-based visualizations than with action-based visualizations, and most effectively with goal-based visualizations aligned with the Euler axis. However, only a few of our participants benefited from precues, possibly because of the cognitive load of 3D rotations. In summary, we showed that using precueing can improve the speed at which participants perform different types of tasks. In our VR path-following task, participants were able to benefit from two to three precues using lines to show the path to targets. In our object-manipulation task with 2DoF movement and 1DoF rotation, participants performed best when given movement information for two successive subtasks and rotation information for a single subtask. Further, in our later study focusing on rotation, we found that participants were able to use rotation precues in our single-object task, while in the multiple-object task, rotation precues were not beneficial to participants. Finally, in a study on a sequential 6DoF task, participants performed better with goal-based visualizations than with action-based visualizations.

<p>Augmented reality (AR) allows people to view digital information overlaid on to real-world objects. While the technology is still new, it is currently being used in places such as the military and industrial assembly operations in the form of ocular devices worn on the head over the eyes. Head-mounted displays (HMDs) let people always see AR information in their field of view no matter where their head is positioned. Studies have shown that HMDs displaying information directly related to the immediate task can decreased cognitive workload and increase the speed and accuracy of task performance. However, task-irrelevant information has shown to decrease performance and accuracy of the primary task and also hinder the efficiency of processing the irrelevant information. This has been investigated in industry settings but less so in an everyday consumer context. This study proposes comparing two types of visual information (text and shapes) in AR displayed on an HMD to answer the following questions: 1) when content is of importance, which visual notification (text or shapes) is processed faster while degrading the performance of the primary task the least? And 2) When presence is of importance, which visual notification (text or shapes) is processed faster while degrading the performance of the primary task the least?</p>

Characteristic for upcoming technology is that it is growing, constantly developing and fast implemented in people's lives. Augmented reality (AR) is one of these technologies and more companies are implementing AR in their daily operations. AR can be described as a large amount of data, being transformed into images that are attached to the real world. The technique takes digital images and applies it to the reality through a mobiles camera lens. When used for mobile application it is called mobile augmented reality (MAR). MAR applications are expected to be as successful as smartphones was when it was first released. The revenue is set to be over $120 billion dollars by 2020. Even though it sees huge potential, few studies are done on user experience (UX) and satisfaction for the end user. This information could be a crucial asset for AR stakeholders in the prosperous future. A generation of interest for technology stakeholders is the digital natives who are people born between 1980 and 2000. They have been brought up with technology and they are comfortable with adapting to new technologies and they are not late on trying them out. This study combined the three fields of interest, MAR, UX and the digital natives, for the purpose to develop knowledge of what factors within UX that digital natives’ value as most important for a MAR application. A quantitative method with an inductive approach were used to answer the research question. The researchers used a questionnaire to collect the data that was later analyzed with the help of Google Forms, Microsoft Excel and SPSS. Predetermined factors from a theoretical framework was presented to the participants of the study; perspicuity (easy to learn, easy to understand), dependability (predictable, secure), efficiency (fast, organized), novelty (creative, innovative) and stimulation (exiting, interesting). The study concluded that perspicuity, novelty and efficiency were the most important factors of UX in MAR applications according to the digital natives.

Die Technologie der Computer Erweiterten Realität (engl.: Computer Augmented Reality, CAR) ermöglicht die Anreicherung der Sinneswahrnehmung des Menschen mit computergenerierten Informationen. Diese situationsangepassten Informationen unterstützen den Benutzer bei der Ausführung seiner Handlungen in der Realität. Durch den Einsatz dieser Technologie im industriellen Bereich wird eine Steigerung der Qualität und Effizienz von Industrieprozessen erwartet. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht den CAR-Einsatz zur Unterstützung von Tätigkeiten im Bereich technischer Instandhaltung. Am Institut für Prozess- und Produktionsleittechnik der Technischen Universität Clausthal wurde der Prototyp eines CAR-basierten Informations- und Dokumentationssystems für die Instandhaltung entwickelt. Er stellt eine alternative, praxistaugliche und kostengünstige Systemlösung dar, verglichen mit traditionellen CAR-Systemen, deren industrieller Einsatz durch technische, ergonomische und kostenbedingte Probleme nach wie vor erschwert wird. In einer Reihe von Benutzertests wurde die Gebrauchstauglichkeit dieses Prototyps zur Unterstützung von Instandhaltungstätigkeiten durch die Bereitstellung CAR-basierter Bedienungsanleitungen evaluiert. Des Weiteren wurde der Einfluss der speziellen interaktiven Eigenschaften des virtuell erweiterten Umgebungsbildes dieses Prototyps auf die räumliche Orientierung des Benutzers in einer größeren, unbekannten Umgebung untersucht. Die Ergebnisse sprechen deutlich für eine Eignung des Systems. Neben zeitlichen Einsparungen sind insbesondere reduzierte Fehlerzahlen und eine erleichterte räumliche Orientierung in größeren, komplex aufgebauten sowie in nicht oder wenig bekannten Umgebungen zu nennen. Durch die Möglichkeit, Objekte einer Anlage eindeutig zu identifizieren, wird letztlich die Arbeitssicherheit erhöht. / The technology of Computer Augmented Reality (CAR) enriches the perception of a person with computer-generated information. This virtual information supports the user when acting in the real environment. Increased quality and efficiency of industrial processes are expected by applying this technology. This thesis examines the potentials of CAR for supporting activities in industrial maintenance. At Clausthal University of Technology the prototype of a system for information and documentation in maintenance was developed. Compared to traditional CAR-systems with their technical, ergonomic and financial problems it is an alternative solution that can easily be used in industrial environments. In various tests the usability of this prototype for giving operating instructions was evaluated. Also, the influence of this prototype’s interactive augmented live-video on the spatial orientation was examined. The results clearly speak for the suitability of this system. It reduces execution time and error rates. Allowing exact identification of objects in complex or unknown environments it increases the operational safety.

An ongoing research focus in Augmented Reality (AR) is to improve tracking and display technology in order to minimize registration errors between the graphical display and the physical world. However, registration is not always necessary for users to understand the intent of an augmentation, especially in situations where the user and the system have shared semantic knowledge of the environment. I hypothesize that adding appropriate graphical context to an augmentation can ameliorate the effects of registration errors. I establish a theoretical basis supporting the use of context based on perceptual and cognitive psychology. I introduce the notion of Adaptive Intent-Based Augmented Reality (i.e. augmented reality systems that adapt their augmentations to convey the correct intent in a scene based on an estimate of the registration error in the system.) I extend the idea of communicative intent, developed for desktop graphical explanation systems by Seligmann and Feiner (Seligmann &Feiner, 1991), to include graphical context cues, and use this as the basis for the design of a series of example augmentations demonstrating the concept. I show how semantic knowledge of a scene and the intent of an augmentation can be used to generate appropriate graphical context that counters the effects of registration error. I evaluate my hypothesis in two user studies based on a Lego block-placement task. In both studies, a virtual block rendered on a head-worn display shows where to place the next physical block. In the first study, I demonstrate that a user can perform the task effectively in the presence of registration error when graphical context is included. In the second, I demonstrate that a variety of approaches to displaying graphics outside the task space are possible when sufficient graphical context is added.

Augmented Reality (AR) has become a popular interactive technique in the last few years. One of the critical challenges is to identify the real-life objects. Further, how to fully exert the advantages of the AR technique under the limited resources available on the mobile devices is another critical challenge. To resolve the above issue, firstly this thesis reviewed the real-life object tagging and identification techniques. Secondly this thesis studied the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Interface and the environmental sensors on the mobile phones. Lastly this thesis implemented a Multiple Real-life Object Identification Algorithm along with the development of the Multi Object Identification Augmented Reality (MOIAR) application. Subsequently, the MOIAR application has been implemented in the location-based mobile learning environment, where the Legislative Assembly of Alberta is included as an example real-life learning object. This MOIAR implementation has applied the tagging and identification technique review as well as the HCI and sensors study, to prove the usability and practicability of the MOIAR application. / 2012-01

Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka interaktivt ljud ställt i relation till Augmented Reality. Vi vill undersöka begreppet genom ett fokus på ljud, och därigenom bredda uppfattningen om vad Augmented Reality potentiellt kan innebära. Vi har undersökt Sonification, Audio Spatial Awareness och Augmented Reality för att producera en gestaltning baserad på en kombination av dessa teoribildningar. Dels för att undersöka hur Sonification kan göra vissa aspekter av verkligheten tydligare för människor, samt för att använda denna information för att försöka påverka människors inställning till och uppfattning av varandra. Gestaltningens syfte är att undersöka hur mänskligt samspel kan påverkas genom ljud baserat på rumslig data, och är ett resultat av den forskning som lagt den teoretiska grunden och den primära metod som vi valt för att utveckla den genom. Performative Experience Design ämnas till att undersöka och främja interaktivitet utifrån ett performativt perspektiv, då den uppmanar till ett öppet och nyfiket förhållningssätt till mänskligt samspel. Resultat av detta är ett system med stor potential för vidareutveckling, men också en påbörjad diskussion om vad Augmented Reality kan innebära. / The purpose of this work is to investigate interactive sound in relation to Augmented Reality. We want to explore the concept by focusing on sound, thereby broadening the perception of what Augmented Reality potentially could mean. We have investigated Sonication, Audio Spatial Awareness and Augmented Reality to produce an artefact based on a combination of these theories. Our focus is to investigate how Sonification can make certain aspects of reality clearer to people, as well as to use this information to try to influence people's perception of each other. We aim to investigate how human interaction can be influenced by sound based on spatial data, and is directly influenced by the research which laid the theoretical foundation combined with the primary method we chose. Performative Experience Design aims to investigate and generate interaction based on a performance perspective, as it calls for an open and curious approach to human interaction. The result of this is a system with great potential for further development, but also a beginning to an initial discussion of what constitutes Augmented reality.

Syfte – För att konstruera lyckade mobila Augmented Reality-lösningar som får virtuella objekt att se ut att samexistera med verkligheten krävs robusta trackingsystem som klarar av att spåra position och orientering med hög precision. Således var studiens syfte att undersöka precisionen i trackingsystemen i ARKit och ARCore för att erhålla underlag om hur väl virtuella objekt kan förankras på en fysisk position. Både ARKit och ARCore använder konceptet förankringspunkter för att uppnå ökad precision i trackingen av virtuella objekt. Därav undersöktes hur pålitliga dessa förankringspunkter är för respektive ramverk och huruvida de förbättrar precisionen eller inte. Metod – I studien genomfördes egenutformade experiment där en app för respektive ramverk skapades med uppgiften att placera ut ett virtuellt objekt med eller utan förankringspunkt framför enheten. Med hjälp av fasta fysiska positioner som användes som referenspunkter kunde förskjutningar av virtuella objekt beräknas när enheten förflyttades i två olika scener. Resultat – Medelförskjutningen av förankringspunkterna i ARKit var 15,2 cm och 27 cm i respektive scen. För ARCore blev medelförskjutningen av förankringspunkterna 7,8 cm och 4,7 cm. Trackingen av virtuella objekt förbättrades i ARCore i båda scenerna när förankringspunkter användes. Däremot fick ARKit blandade resultat där trackingen förbättrades avsevärt när tillräckligt med textur fanns, men försämrades när det inte fanns. Implikationer – Studien visar att ARCore klarar trackingen av virtuella objekt bättre än ARKit. Vidare bekräftar studien att förankringspunkter bör användas för att förbättra precisionen i trackingen i ARCore, medan det i ARKit endast förbättras när tillräckligt med textur finns i omgivningen. Begränsningar – Endast en smartphone för respektive ramverk användes i experimenten. Scenerna var statiska och experimenten genomfördes i så ljusa förhållanden som möjligt. Studien testade enbart en förankringspunkt och säger således inget om hur pålitligheten och precisionen förändras när multipla förankringspunkter används. / Purpose – To construct successful mobile Augmented Reality solutions that make virtual objects coexist with reality, robust tracking systems capable of tracking position and orientation with high precision is required. The study's purpose was therefore to investigate the precision of the tracking systems in ARKit and ARCore to receive material regarding how well virtual objects can be anchored on a physical position. Both ARKit and ARCore utilize a concept called anchors to achieve heightened precision in the tracking of virtual objects. How reliable these anchors are in each framework and whether they improve precision was thus examined. Method – Experiments were designed and performed in the study, where one app for each framework was created with the purpose of placing a virtual object with or without an anchor in front of the device. Fixed physical positions were used as references to calculate how much the virtual object were drifting when the device was moved around in two different scenes. Findings – The average drift of the anchors were 15,2 cm and 27 cm with ARKit in each scene. The anchors with ARCore had an average drift of 7,8 cm and 4,7 cm. The study found that the tracking of virtual objects improved in ARCore when anchors were used, while ARKit gave mixed results where clear improvements could be seen only when there was enough texture in the scene. Implications – The study shows that ARCore handles the tracking of virtual objects better than ARKit. The study also confirms that anchors should be utilized to improve the precision of the tracking in ARCore, while in ARKit it is only improved when there are a sufficient amount of texture in the surroundings. Limitations – Only one smartphone for each framework were used in the experiments. The scenes were static and the experiments were performed in as bright conditions as possible. The study only tested one anchor and says nothing regarding changes in the reliability and precision when multiple anchors are used.

Bakgrund: I dagens digitaliserade samhälle ställs det höga krav från kunder på att saker och ting ska fungera. Det ställs krav på att företag ska tillhandahålla sina kunder med ett attraktivt erbjudande och med dagens snabbt växande teknologier möjliggörs nya sätt att erbjuda service. AR-teknologi har nyligen börjat användas som ett verktyg i företags eftermarknadsservice inom B2B och möjliggör för kunders servicetekniker att, på distans, få hjälp av en expert med att felsöka och reparera maskiner. Eftermarknadsservice kan om utförd på rätt sätt ge företag konkurrensfördelar och spås vara en stor framtida intäktsdrivare. Hypen kring AR-teknologi är hög, nya teknologier är en drivkraft till företags sätt att erbjuda nya tjänster och konsumenter är benägna om snabb service, men ännu saknas det studier kring AR-teknologi inom eftermarknadsservice på B2C-marknaden. Syfte: Att undersöka attityderna hos olika aktörer i distributionskedjan, utifrån tre valda dimensioner, mot införandet av AR-teknologi i företags eftermarknadsservice mot konsument, samt öka förståelsen för dess påverkan på serviceprocessen. Metod: I studien tillämpas en kvalitativ metod där vi genomfört en explorativ fallstudie på införandet av AR-teknologi i företags eftermarknadsservice. Det empiriska insamlandet har skett genom 14 stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer med respondenter från tre olika aktörer i vår studerade distributionskedja. Slutsats: Aktörerna i distributionskedjan är överens om att det finns tydliga fördelar med införandet av AR-teknologi i eftermarknadsservice. Detta då kunskapsöverföring, vilken underlättas av AR-teknologi, kan främja självservice vilket kan innebära kostnads- och tidsbesparingar för både företag och konsumenter. Däremot finns det frågor kring det faktiska användandet av tekniken och om den i vissa fall kan bli överflödig. Det finns också frågor kring hur en förflyttning av servicen närmare konsument kan påverka företags stabila intäktsflöde inom eftermarknadsservice samt deras kundrelationer. / Background: In today’s digitalized society there are high demands from customers on how things should work. Companies face demands on how they should provide their customers with a attractive offerings and with today's fast growing technologies new ways of offering service are presented. AR-technology has recently started being used as a tool in companies’ aftermarket service within B2B and it allows for service technicians to, remotely provide aid, problem solve and repair of the machines with the assistance of an expert. Aftermarket service can, if performed correctly, give companies competitive advantages and is believed to be a large future profit maker. There is a hype surrounding AR-technology, new technologies are a driving force for new services and consumers are demanding fast service, but there are still studies missing regarding AR-technology in the aftermarket service on the B2C market.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of the different operators within the supply chain, from three different dimensions, towards the introduction of AR- technology in companies’ aftermarket service towards consumers, and also to improve the understanding of its effect on the service process. Method: The study uses a qualitative method where we have performed an explorative case study on the introduction of AR-technology in companies’ aftermarket service. The empirical data have been gathered by 14 semi-structured interviews with respondents from three different operators within our studied supply chain. Result: The operators, within the supply chain, all agree that there are clear advantages with the introduction of AR-technology in the aftermarket service as knowledge transfer, facilitated by AR-technology, can promote self-service which can mean cost and time savings for both the company and the consumers. There are though questions regarding the actual use of the technology and if the technology in some cases may become redundant. There are also questions about how a shift of service closer to consumers may affect companies ́ stable revenue flow in the aftermarket service and also their customer relations.