Lessons Learned in Designing Ubiquitous Augmented Reality User Interfaces

Abstract

Ubiquitous augmented reality (UAR) is an emerging human-computer interaction technology, arising from the convergence of augmented reality and ubiquitous computing. In UAR, visualizations can augment the real world with digital information. Interactions can follow a tangible metaphor. Both should adapt according to the user’s context and are distributed on a possibly changing set of devices. Current research problems for user interfaces in UAR are software infrastructures, authoring tools and a supporting design process. We present case studies of how we have used a systematic design space analysis to carefully narrow the amount of available design options. The next step in our approach is to use interactive, possibly immersive tools to support interdisciplinary brainstorming sessions. Several tools are presented. We conclude by summarizing the lessons we have learned while applying our method.