Evaluating Techniques for Interaction at a Distance

This paper presents techniques designed to facilitate interaction at a distance in mobile augmented reality and evaluates different input controls for them. The goal of the techniques is to quickly and accurately annotate distant physical objects not yet represented in the computer's model of the scene. To this end, we present a new method for judging virtual object distance. Using virtual depth cues, the user can accurately judge depth values without having to resort to near-field-only cues such as stereo vision and parallax. To place new annotations, we need to position a virtual 3D cursor accurately relative to known landmarks. We developed four techniques for controlling this cursor and conducted a user study on the relative efficiency of these techniques.