Running with Data: a Survey of the Current Research and a Design Exploration of Future Immersive Visualisations

Keywords

Running, Jogging; Survey, Taxonomy; Human-Subjects Qualitative Studies; Personal Visual Analytics; Mobile; Augmented/Mixed/Extended Reality, Immersive

Abstract

This work investigates the current research on in-situ visualisations for running: visualisations about data that are referred to during the running activity. We analyse 47 papers from 33 Human-Computer Interaction and Visualisation venues and identify six dimensions of a design space of in-situ running visualisations. Our analysis of this design space highlights an emerging trend: a shift from on-body, peripersonal visualisations (i.e., in the space within direct reach, such as visualisations on a smartwatch or a mobile phone display) towards extrapersonal displays (i.e., in the space beyond immediate reach, such as visualisations in immersive augmented reality displays) that integrate data in the runner’s surrounding environment. We explore this opportunity by conducting a series of workshops with 10 active runners in total, eliciting design concepts for running visualisations and interactions beyond conventional 2D displays. We find that runners show a strong interest for visualisation designs that favour more context-aware, interactive, and unobtrusive experiences that seamlessly integrate with their run. These findings inform a set of design considerations for future immersive running visualisations and highlight directions for further research.