M2A: A Framework for Visualizing Information from Mobile Web to Mobile Augmented Reality

Kit-Yung Lam, Lik-Hang Lee, Tristan Braud, Pan Hui

Abstract: Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) drastically changes our approach to computing and user interaction. Web browsing, in particular, is impractical on AR devices as current web design principles do not account for three-dimensional display and navigation of virtual content. In this paper, we propose Mobile to AR (M2A), the first framework for designing web pages for AR devices. M2A exploits the visual context to display more content while enabling users to locate relevant data intuitively with minimal modifications to the website. To evaluate the principles behind the framework, we implement a demonstration application in AR and conduct two user-focused experiments. Our experimental study reveals that participants with M2A are 5 times faster to find information on a web page compared to a smartphone, and 2 times faster than a traditional AR web browser. Furthermore, users consider navigation on M2A websites to be significantly more intuitive and easy to use compared to their desktop and mobile counterparts.