Seeing Clearly: A Situated Air Quality Visualization with AR Egocentric Viewpoint Extension

Abstract

Raising public awareness about air quality is crucial for promoting individual and collective actions to mitigate the harmful effects of air pollution and achieve a healthier and more sustainable environment. This article presents an application that uses Augmented Reality (AR) and Situated Visualization (SV) to increase public awareness of air quality-related issues. The application, created according to the Human-Centered Design (HCD) methodology, overlays a visual representation of realtime air quality data onto the user's immediate environment, taking advantage of SV's contextualization capabilities. However, this kind of AR application faces some challenges, namely the AR egocentric viewpoint limitation of users when using SV. The application incorporates two solutions to mitigate this problem: multi-dynamic camera feeds (using the front and rear cameras of the mobile phone to extend the user's field of view) and side-by-side dynamic AR and Virtual Reality (VR) camera feeds (a transitional interface with an AR camera and a 3D virtual/digital representation of the area where the user is). Finally, the article evaluates the usability of the application and proposes solutions to mitigate egocentric viewpoint limitations. A study was conducted with seven participants with no prior experience in air quality visualization or AR to complete a task that involved pollution information retrieval using only the AR camera, as well as the side-by-side dynamic AR and VR camera feeds. The results showed that by using the solutions, the task completion time decreased by 42%. Additionally, the application received positive feedback regarding ease of understanding, complexity, and involvement, suggesting that it can be truly helpful.