Data Science in Virtual Reality

Can we use VR as a tool to do complex analyses? We’ve got three dimensions to work with instead of two. We can dial in any expert from around the world and share a space with them. And we can use gestures and other natural interactions to make more intuitve interfaces.

The VR Environment

We created an environment in which you could load data and perform rudimentary analyses. It is a multiplayer environment, so people from all over the world can join in analysing and interpreting the data. In the video below, I'll give a short tour of the environment and show some of the functionalities.

Infinite Data Space

The first environment which we made was an infinite grid where you could create any type of graph. The goal of this exercise was to see how each graph would look in VR and how it could be improved over its 2D counterpart.

Physical Metaphors

The first version of this project was built around the idea of physical metaphors for data. So data would be a gas canister that you could attach to a generator. The generator would turn the gas into electricity which you could wire up to different effects and ultimately graphs. It was a cool idea, but it didn’t work out since none of the metaphors were intuitive enough to be understood without explanation.

Sci-fi Laboratory

Who wouldn’t want to work in a futuristic lab? This environment contains a table on which data is laid out. Using the controls, a SQL-like query can be formed to load the data. Data can be picked up from the table, after which it expands to reveal more details. This environment is a multi-user environment. In the video below, Till and Bastiaan are discussing a dataset in the same virtual world.