Visualization can provide valuable assistance for data analysis and decision making tasks. However, how people perceive and interact with a visualization tool can strongly influence their understanding of the data as well as the system's usefulness. Human factors therefore contribute significantly to the visualization process and should play an important role in the design and evaluation of visualization tools. Several research initiatives have begun to explore human factors in visualization, particularly in perception-based design. Nonetheless, visualization work involving human factors is in its infancy, and many potentially promising areas have yet to be explored. Therefore, we aim to 1) review known methodology for doing human factors research, with specific emphasis on visualization, 2) review current human factors research in visualization to provide a basis for future investigation, and 3) identify promising areas for future research.

Human factors in visualization research

The status of augmented reality in laparoscopic surgery as of 2016.

Introduction. The development augmented reality devices allow physicians to incorporate data visualization into diagnostic and treatment procedures to improve work efficiency, safety, and cost and to enhance surgical training. However, the awareness of possibilities of augmented reality is generally low. This review evaluates whether augmented reality can presently improve the results of surgical procedures. Methods. We performed a review of available literature dating from 2010 to November 2016 by searching PubMed and Scopus using the terms “augmented reality” and “surgery.” Results. The initial search yielded 808 studies. After removing duplicates and including only journal articles, a total of 417 studies were identified. By reading of abstracts, 91 relevant studies were chosen to be included. 11 references were gathered by cross-referencing. A total of 102 studies were included in this review. Conclusions. The present literature suggest an increasing interest of surgeons regarding employing augmented reality into surgery leading to improved safety and efficacy of surgical procedures. Many studies showed that the performance of newly devised augmented reality systems is comparable to traditional techniques. However, several problems need to be addressed before augmented reality is implemented into the routine practice.

https://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/jhe/2017/4574172.pdf

Recent Development of Augmented Reality in Surgery: A Review

Data sculptures are an increasingly popular form of physical visualization whose purposes are essentially artistic, communicative or educational. But can physical visualizations help carry out actual information visualization tasks? We present the first infovis study comparing physical to on-screen visualizations. We focus on 3D visualizations, as these are common among physical visualizations but known to be problematic on computers. Taking 3D bar charts as an example, we show that moving visualizations to the physical world can improve users' efficiency at information retrieval tasks. In contrast, augmenting on-screen visualizations with stereoscopic rendering alone or with prop-based manipulation was of limited help. The efficiency of physical visualizations seems to stem from features that are unique to physical objects, such as their ability to be touched and their perfect visual realism. These findings provide empirical motivation for current research on fast digital fabrication and self-reconfiguring interfaces.

https://hal.inria.fr/hal-00781831/document

Evaluating the efficiency of physical visualizations

Visualization in Medicine is the first book on visualization and its application to problems in medical diagnosis, education, and treatment. The book describes the algorithms, the applications and their validation (how reliable are the results?), and the clinical evaluation of the applications (are the techniques useful?). It discusses visualization techniques from research literature as well as the compromises required to solve practical clinical problems. 

The book covers image acquisition, image analysis, and interaction techniques designed to explore and analyze the data. The final chapter shows how visualization is used for planning liver surgery, one of the most demanding surgical disciplines. The book is based on several years of the authors' teaching and research experience. Both authors have initiated and lead a variety of interdisciplinary projects involving computer scientists and medical doctors, primarily radiologists and surgeons.

* A core field of visualization and graphics missing a dedicated book until now
* Written by pioneers in the field and illustrated in full color
* Covers theory as well as practice

Visualization in Medicine: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications

Purpose
Augmented reality (AR) obtains increasing acceptance in the operating room. However, a meaningful augmentation of the surgical view with a 3D visualization of planning data which allows reliable comparisons of distances and spatial relations is still an open request.

Illustrative visualization of 3D planning models for augmented reality in liver surgery.

Due to the progress in computer graphics hardware high resolution 3d models may be explored at interactive frame rates, and facilities to explore them are a part of modern radiological workstations and therapy planning systems. Despite their advantages, 3d visualizations are only employed by a minority of potential users and even these employ 3d visualizations for a few selected tasks only. We hypothesize that this results from a lack of intuitive interaction techniques for 3d rotation. In this paper, we compare existing techniques with respect to design principles derived by clinical applications and present results of an empirical study. These results are relevant beyond clinical applications and strongly suggest that the presented design principles are crucial for comfortable and predictable interaction techniques for 3d rotation.

/pdf/usability-comparison-of-mouse-based-interaction-techniques-93urfv7o3m.pdf

Usability comparison of mouse-based interaction techniques for predictable 3d rotation

Many exploration and manipulation tasks benefit from a coherent integration of multiple views onto complex information spaces. This paper proposes the concept of Illustrative Shadows for a tight integration of interactive 3D graphics and schematic depictions using the shadow metaphor. The shadow metaphor provides an intuitive visual link between 3D and 2D visualizations integrating the different displays into one combined information display. Users interactively explore spatial relations in realistic shaded virtual models while functional correlations and additional textual information are presented on additional projection layers using a semantic network approach. Manipulations of one visualization immediately influence the others, resulting in an in-formationally and perceptibly coherent presentation

/pdf/illustrative-shadows-integrating-3d-and-2d-information-1y24c3dr2r.pdf

Illustrative shadows: integrating 3D and 2D information displays

We present novel interactive methods for the visualization of multimodal volume data as used in neurosurgical therapy planning. These methods allow surgeons to explore multimodal volumes and focus on functional data and lesions. Computer graphics techniques are proposed to create expressive visualizations at interactive frame rates to reduce time-consuming and complex interaction with the medical data. Contributions of our work are the distance-based enhancements of functional data and lesions which allows the surgeon to perceive functional and anatomical structures at once and relate them directly to the intervention. In addition we propose methods for the visual exploration of the path to the structures of interest, to enhance anatomical landmarks, and to provide additional depth indicators. These techniques have been integrated in a visualization prototype that provides interaction capabilities for finding the optimal therapeutic strategy for the neurosurgeon.

Interactive visualization of multimodal volume data for neurosurgical tumor treatment

We introduce a new metaphor for learning spatial relations—the 3D puzzle. With this metaphor users learn spatial relations by assembling a geometric model themselves. For this purpose, a 3D model of the subject at hand is enriched with docking positions which allow objects to be connected. Since complex 3D interactions are required to compose 3D objects, sophisticated 3D visualization and interaction techniques are included. Among these techniques are specialized shadow generation, snapping mechanisms, collision detection and the use of two-handed interaction. The 3D puzzle, similar to a computer game, can be operated at different levels of difficulty. To simplify the task, a subset of the geometry, e.g., the skeleton of an anatomic model, can be given initially. Moreover, textual information concerning the parts of the model is provided to support the user. With this approach we motivate students to explore the spatial relations in complex geometric models and at the same time give them a goal to achieve while learning takes place. A prototype of a 3D puzzle, which is designed principally for use in anatomy education, is presented.

/pdf/using-a-3d-puzzle-as-a-metaphor-for-learning-spatial-bfmz0afapa.pdf

Felix Ritter

Papers

Illustrative visualization of 3D planning models for augmented reality in liver surgery.

Usability comparison of mouse-based interaction techniques for predictable 3d rotation

Illustrative shadows: integrating 3D and 2D information displays

Interactive visualization of multimodal volume data for neurosurgical tumor treatment

Using a 3D Puzzle as a Metaphor for Learning Spatial Relations