Immersive Analytics in Dam Safety Control 2025 Nuno Verdelho Trindade Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal PDF Cite Plain textN. Verdelho Trindade, Immersive analytics in dam safety control. Lisbon, Portugal: Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto Superior Técnico, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://scholar.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/records/mMUWYXyv__5FeaEeUfRIEEwbrGh3ua8TwIHo BibTeX@phdthesis{verdelhotrindadephdthesis2025, author = {Nuno {Verdelho Trindade}}, title = {Immersive analytics in dam safety control}, school = {Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal}, source = {https://scholar.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/records/mMUWYXyv__5FeaEeUfRIEEwbrGh3ua8TwIHo}, year = {2025} keywords = {proxsituated-visualization, situated-visualization, immersive-analytics, extended-reality, dam-safety-control}, abstract = {Dam safety control consists of monitoring and analyzing observed data and comparing it with computed results from numerical models. Dam data visualization is typically carried out on desktop computers using traditional charts. Visual contextualization of the information contained in these charts with the area of the dam it pertains to is fundamental to understanding the overall behavior of dams. While nothing provides a more accurate spatial perception of the structures’ features than standing in front of the actual dam, such a scenario is impractical. Dams are often located in remote locations, and data analysis is typically carried out in the office. And while looking at the data without contextualizing it with the dam is not ideal, looking at the real dam without contextualizing it with the data is equally problematic. Immersive analytics uses extended reality to generate immersive environments where data can be visualized. Our research explores how it can be applied to dam safety control to improve structural data visualization. We address a subarea called situated visualization, aimed at displaying information on-site contextualized with the object of analysis. However, because dam data analysis activities are typically carried out off-site, we focus on using virtual 3D models instead of the actual dam (proxsituated visualization). We address the development of specialized prototypes, which are used to support a user study designed to determine if and where proxsituated visualization can improve dam safety control. The study compares performance and user experience across multiple modes/devices (desktop computer, virtual reality, and augmented reality) with distinct levels of visual detail and data representation indirection. Our findings suggest that there are indeed some advantages in both user experience and analysis performance in immersive proxsituated environments, compared to traditional/non-immersive.} }
The Role of Situatedness in Immersive Dam Visualization: Comparing Proxied with Immediate Approaches 2024 Nuno Verdelho Trindade, Pedro Leitão, Daniel Gonçalves, Sérgio Oliveira, Alfredo Ferreira Computers 2024, 13, 35, DOI: 10.3390/computers13020035 DOI PDF Cite Plain textN. Verdelho Trindade, P. Leitão, D. Gonçalves, S. Oliveira, and A. Ferreira, "The role of situatedness in immersive dam visualization: Comparing proxied with immediate approaches," Computers, vol. 13, p. 35, 2024, doi: 10.3390/computers13020035. BibTeX@article{computers13020035, AUTHOR = {Verdelho Trindade, Nuno and Leitão, Pedro and Gonçalves, Daniel and Oliveira, Sérgio and Ferreira, Alfredo}, TITLE = {The Role of Situatedness in Immersive Dam Visualization: Comparing Proxied with Immediate Approaches}, JOURNAL = {Computers}, VOLUME = {13}, YEAR = {2024}, NUMBER = {2}, ARTICLE-NUMBER = {35}, URL = {https://doi.org/10.3390/computers13020035}, ISSN = {2073-431X}, ABSTRACT = {Dam safety control is a multifaceted activity that requires analysis, monitoring, and structural behavior prediction. It entails interpreting vast amounts of data from sensor networks integrated into dam structures. The application of extended reality technologies for situated immersive analysis allows data to be contextualized directly over the physical referent. Such types of visual contextualization have been known to improve analytical reasoning and decision making. This study presents DamVR, a virtual reality tool for off-site, proxied situated structural sensor data visualization. In addition to describing the tool’s features, it evaluates usability and usefulness with a group of 22 domain experts. It also compares its performance with an existing augmented reality tool for the on-site, immediate situated visualization of structural data. Participant responses to a survey reflect a positive assessment of the proxied situated approach’s usability and usefulness. This approach shows a decrease in performance (task completion time and errors) for more complex tasks but no significant differences in user experience scores when compared to the immediate situated approach. The findings indicate that while results may depend strongly on factors such as the realism of the virtual environment, the immediate physical referent offered some advantages over the proxied one in the contextualization of data.}, DOI = {10.3390/computers13020035} }
