Precise Navigation in Virtual Environments without Compromising Interaction

Many navigation techniques have been tried out and implemented by many researchers. However, their research is focused on the navigation techniques themselves (how to turn, how to move forward/backwards, how to change the speed of travel, etc.), and not on how precise the navigation is in complex virtual environments when many turns need to be taken to reach a destination. In addition, in many cases the ones who implement and invent new navigation techniques for Virtual Environments do not take into account interaction simply because their focus is on the navigation techniques themselves. However, when studying precision in navigation, interaction must be taken into consideration because it is yet another very important aspect in defining Virtual Reality and Virtual Environments. We found that simple adjustments on where we mount the sensor that controls the position/orientation of a user’s hand in a Virtual Environment plays a crucial role in navigation precision.