Digital representation of real-world entities of varying complexity are available in digital twins. How-ever, interaction and visual analytics metaphors are simply not built to appear in the physical world context, whilst operating remotely, a user has restricted sense of space. It is necessary to offer a unified holistic experience of data and analytics anchored in the real world for local or remote participants.
The COVID19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of human workers and the need to create a more resilient society. Outbreaks in workplaces, such as industry plants and factories, have emphasized the importance of maintaining a healthy workforce. While lockdowns and travel bans continue to disrupt what was taken for granted as normal operation, the crisis has made us aware that it is possible to carry out many activities remotely with various levels of synchronicity in collaboration. Technology has facilitated communication, yet the crisis has made people painfully aware of its limitations: many activities require an awareness of space, a sense of presence and freedom of movement to operate. This project aims to investigate and develop technological solutions to counter the limitations posed, and strengthen the ability to act from a safe distance.
The need for a new approach towards immersive interaction in the real-world goes beyond the recent crisis. Huge sums invested in digitalization lead to complex “cyber physical systems”, i.e., physical systems monitored and controlled with networks of sensors and computational cores. Various data representing the physical entity are collected in digital twins comprising 3D structural data, semantic information, and sensor data. Nonetheless, the sensory experience offered through immersive technologies is rather constrained regardless of major recent advances. Data is available, yet access, interaction, and analytics are separate from the physical entity. These are cumbersome activities when carried out in the physical world. Visualization and interaction metaphors as well as analytics were simply not built to appear in the physical world context. Yet, in various areas of expertise we need digital information about physical entities in real-time. In the case of units with a physical and digital existence, how should the information referring to them best be combined in a coherent presentation? And what are appropriate interaction paradigms for analytics processes in immersive environments?