An Asymmetric Virtual Reality Tool for Town Development

Abstract: Residents living in small towns that are a part of a bigger municipality may sometimes feel overlooked as they sense that they have lesser influence. Smaller towns may not have the resources or consider the need for integrating technology with the town, thus possibly making it harder for the residents to stay updated and be in contact with the town. By focusing on the residents' needs, a digitalised platform with desired features was developed. The digitalised platform was, besides serving as a tool to increase the sense of influence among the residents, extended with virtual reality to explore the usefulness of an asymmetric collaborative environment in a town development tool. Ultimately, the platform consisted of a touchscreen with virtual reality integrated into the platform. The structure and the development of the thesis was a result of a user-centred design process. The project was divided into 3 major phases, starting with the conceptual phase to identify the users' needs. Then, the prototyping phase, where the users' needs were transformed into Lo-fi prototypes, and ultimately a Hi-fi prototype. Lastly, the Hi-fi prototype was tested by users in the evaluating phase to identify usability errors and to gather user data as regards to the purpose and goal of the thesis. The purpose of the thesis was to identify if asymmetric collaborative interactions between VR and a touchscreen could be used as a tool for professional use, and the usefulness of such a system. The data obtained from the research showed that asymmetric collaboration between VR and a touch screen is only a moderately useful concept, as the usability was not obvious in a city planning platform. However, the concept was well-received by the users. Given a platform that is developed solely for an asymmetric collaborative environment, the potential would increase tremendously.