Multimodal Interactions In Multi-Display Semi-Immersive Environments

Spatial navigation of virtual environments often requires different categories of navigation actions. In this paper, we describe a mapping between different forms of navigation and multimodal interactions to accomplish the actions. We select and define three forms of navigation, identify characteristics of those forms, and describe interactions that were selected to match those characteristics. We developed these mappings within a multidisplay, semi-immersive environment assembled from commodity components, with a goal of supporting use of similar semiimmersive environments in operational settings. In designing the interaction mappings, we considered both the constraints imposed by the environment as well as likely tasks of the targeted user populations. The goal of creating the mappings is to enable fast, natural, and efficient interactions, and minimize attention shifting.