Is spatial intelligibility critical to the design of largescale virtual environments?

Dalton, Ruth (2002) Is spatial intelligibility critical to the design of largescale virtual environments? International Journal of Design Computing, 4. ISSN 1329-7147

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Abstract

This paper discusses the concept of 'intelligibility', a concept usually attributed to the design of real-world environments and suggests how it might be applied to the construction of virtual environments. In order to illustrate this concept, a 3d, online, collaborative environment, AlphaWorld, is analyzed in a manner analogous to spatial analysis techniques applied to cities in the real world. The outcome of this form of spatial analysis is that AlphaWorld appears to be highly 'intelligible' at the small-scale, 'local neighborhood' level, and yet is completely 'unintelligible' at a global level. This paper concludes with a discussion of the relevance of this finding to virtual environment design plus future research applications.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	K100 Architecture K900 Others in Architecture, Building and Planning
Department:	Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Architecture and Built Environment
Depositing User:	Ellen Cole
Date Deposited:	12 Dec 2011 12:48
Last Modified:	13 Oct 2019 00:21
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/3918

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