Getting There Together: Group Navigation in Distributed Virtual Environments

We analyzed the design space of group navigation tasks in distributed virtual environments and present a framework consisting of techniques to form groups, distribute responsibilities, navigate together, and eventually split up again. To improve joint navigation, our work focused on an extension of the Multi-Ray Jumping technique that allows adjusting the spatial formation of two distributed users as part of the target specification process. The results of a quantitative user study showed that these adjustments lead to significant improvements in joint two-user travel, which is evidenced by more efficient travel sequences and lower task loads imposed on the navigator and the passenger. In a qualitative expert review involving all four stages of group navigation, we confirmed the effective and efficient use of our technique in a more realistic use-case scenario and concluded that remote collaboration benefits from fluent transitions between individual and group navigation.