Mobile visualization of architectural projects: Quality and emotional evaluation based on user experience

Abstract

The visualization of architectural design has always been associated with physical models, exhibition panels and displays on computer screens, usually in a large format. However, technological developments in the past decades have produced new devices such as handheld PCs, pocket PCs, and Smartphones that have increasingly larger screens and more sophisticated technical characteristics. The emergence of these devices has made both the non expert and advanced user a consumer of such devices. This evolution has created a new workflow that enables on-site management and decision making through the viewing of information on those devices. In this paper, we will study the basic features of the architectural image to provide a better user experience for browsing these types of images on mobile devices’ limited and heterogeneous screen sizes by comparing the results with traditional and immersive environments.

The visualization of architectural design has always been associated with physical models, exhibition panels and displays on computer screens, usually in a large format. However, technological developments in the past decades have produced new devices such as handheld PCs, pocket PCs, and Smartphones that have increasingly larger screens and more sophisticated technical characteristics. The emergence of these devices has made both the non expert and advanced user a consumer of such devices. This evolution has created a new workflow that enables on-site management and decision making through the viewing of information on those devices. In this paper, we will study the basic features of the architectural image to provide a better user experience for browsing these types of images on mobile devices’ limited and heterogeneous screen sizes by comparing the results with traditional and immersive environments.