Handheld vs. Head-Mounted AR Interaction Patterns for Museums or Guided Tours

Abstract

In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) technology has been adopted in various fields. The development of handheld devices (HHD) such as smartphones and tablets gives people more chances to use AR technology in their daily lives. However, AR applications using head-mounted devices (HMD) such as Microsoft HoloLens or Magic Leap provide stronger presence experiences than HHD, so that users can immerse themselves better in AR scenarios. While currently there already exist prototypical examples of HMD in museum contexts, widely used interaction patterns are not yet well established, although they would play an important role for accessibility by large user groups. This paper explores existing and potential interaction patterns for guided tours in museums, led by the question how to reconcile AR interaction patterns on HHD and HMD. We use an existing museum showcase for handheld AR from the project “Spirit” to transfer its interaction patterns to an HMD, such as the MS HoloLens. Technical constraints and usability criteria regarding the potential overlaps and applicability have been analyzed in this paper.