Navigating Information Space with Tangible Media

Navigational Blocks is a tangible user interface that facilitates retrieval of historical stories in a tourist spot. Orientations, movements, and relative positions of physical Blocks support visitor navigation and exploration in a virtual gallery of information. The goal is to bridge the gap and explore the boundary between the physical environment with a virtual information space. Visitors to a tourist kiosk can use the Navigational Blocks to manipulate a virtual environment and so learn about their physical surroundings. The Navigational Blocks system provides a physical embodiment of digital information through tactile manipulation and haptic feedback. The simple cubic form of the Blocks is easy to grasp and manipulate complex digital information. Electromagnets embedded in the Blocks encourage rapid rearrangement to form different queries into the database. Wireless communication modes make Navigational Blocks a ubiquitous device that could be inserted construction material in walls and floors or to control home automation.