The Immersive Bubble Chart: a Semantic and Virtual Reality Visualization for Big Data

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce the Immersive Bubble Chart, a visualization for hierarchical datasets presented in a virtual reality (VR) world. Users get immersed into the visualization and interact with the bubbles using gestures with a view to overcoming some limitations of 2D visualizations due to the capabilities and interaction affordances of the devices. The technological advances in VR give the possibility to design malleable and extensible representations and more natural and engaging interactions. Using the Oculus Touch controllers, the users can grab and move the bubbles, throw them away or bump two of them for creating a cluster. We have tested the Immersive Bubble Chart with the hierarchical clusters of semantically related terms generated from Twitter.