Leaning-based travel interfaces revisited: frontal versus sidewise stances for flying in 3D virtual spaces

In this paper we revisit the design of leaning-based travel interfaces and propose a design space to categorize existing implementations. Within the design space, frontal and sidewise stances when using a flying surfboard interface were compared through a user study. The interfaces were adapted and improved from our previous designs using a body-mounted, multi-touch touchpad. Two different experiments were designed and conducted that focus on user performance and virtual world cognition, respectively. The results suggest better user performance and user experience when using the frontal stance, although no better spatial orientation or virtual world cognition was identified. Further, user interviews revealed that despite the realistic simulation of skateboarding/snowboarding, the sidewise stance suffers from poor usability due to inefficient and inaccurate turning control and confusion between the viewing and movement directions. Based on these results, several guidelines are proposed to aid the design of leaning-based travel interfaces for immersive virtual reality applications.