Exploring the Effects of Scale in Augmented Reality-Empowered Visual Analytics

Emerging Augmented Reality (AR) technologies can enable situated interactive visual analytics beyond the screen. However, the presentation and interaction design of data visualization integrated into the physical environment may vary in different scales. Understanding how users manage their spatial relationships with AR visualization under different representational scales is crucial for designing user-friendly AR-empowered visual analytic systems. To this end, we present a study with 16 participants, inviting them to solve two logical reasoning puzzles by interacting with the associated node-link graphs in AR in room- and table-scales respectively. Through observation, interviews, and video analysis, we identify three types of spatial arrangements, which are, positioning the visualization in the figural, vista, or panoramic space of a user. We further explore how scales and visualization design affect users' spatial preferences and exploratory behaviors, and summarize our findings among the three types of spatial arrangements.