Towards Understanding Exocentric Distance Estimation Skills of University Students in Virtual Reality

Spatial perception is important in virtual worlds for navigation. Therefore, we have examined the combined effects of human characteristics and immersion level on exocentric distance estimation and its time. We created a virtual environment, and we measured the exocentric distance estimation skills of 229 university students at 10 various distances, between 60 cm and 150 cm at 10 cm intervals. According to our results, exocentric distance estimates were more accurate with the desktop display than with the Gear VR head-mounted display. However, the estimation process with the latter was faster by 36.66% on average.