Data Visualization in VR and AR

Imagine a big industry with thousands of employees, robots, IoT devices, and tons of data daily that gives you crucial information on the machinery performance and operational efficiency. Fast and precise data analysis of this raw data may give you valuable insights on how to improve the working processes and your productivity.

How to do it fast and error-free?

🗣 Before the appearance of the analytics tools and the progression of the Internet of Things (IoT), the data was mainly presented using spreadsheets that could be easily transformed into visual graphs and charts. In today’s era of Big Data, this task is given to data analysts or data scientists, who use models to extract useful information from large data structures. Various SaaS products may come in handy in this case too if the company doesn’t have such specialists among the workforce.

So, the bigger question now is, why should we use VR and AR data visualization? Here we tell you some of the reasons why!

1. Data Visualization in VR and AR is Direct

The visualization of data structures in VR and AR transforms plain and boring numbers into captivating stories and helps users better understand the data. Equipped with AR and VR, users can directly interact with the data — it can surround them in front, behind, above, or to their sides. With the help of visualization, we are turning the big data into a canvas that we can explore with our eyes and hands, instead of a keyboard and mouse.

The interaction through virtual reality is more natural — you can push buttons, move windows, and arrange data streams. Visual information is very useful when we have tons of information, and we are drowning in it, and VR-enabled applications may provide even a better user experience to interact with this data. When AR is integrated with AR glasses or contact lenses, they can reduce device intrusion and provide a hand-free interaction experience. Using accessories, AR allows users to interact with the data securely which prevents the risks of data leakage.

2. There are Fewer Distractions During Virtual Reality Data Analysis

The visualization of data structures in VR and AR helps you better concentrate on the objective, as you focus your entire field of vision. It also gives you a true feel of scale because you are ‘being present’ in the data — this can be very difficult to achieve when using a desktop screen.

3. Visualization of Data Structures in VR Gives More Space

Without the use of VR and AR, humans had to deal with 2D representations — including graphs, charts, reports, and others. XR technologies allow you to see everything concurrently, which is impossible with traditional ways of data visualization as there is a lot more data to display if you have a 360-degree sphere of space.

4. AR & VR Data Analysis is Multidimensional

The human natural instinct is to process information and data in multiple dimensions, which is mimicked in the visualization of data structures in VR and AR. During the analyzing and interpreting process, we mainly use our sight, but what if we can include hearing as well? This way, we’ll be able to better understand the importance, subject, and even location of a particular data through the loudness, or other sound parameters. Using different senses, we would be able to process the data with more dimensions. Of course, speaking of taste and smell is not in our agenda, but ‘feeling’ the data with the haptic feedback gloves is technically possible even today.

5. VR Data Visualization Enables Greater Bandwidth

It’s proven that the human brain processes information faster and much more efficiently when it’s presented in multiple dimensions because human beings are visual creatures. We process images 60 000 times faster than text, and 90% of the information wired to our brain is visual.

Virtual reality fully immerses you into a 3D world that stimulates your brain and allows you to fully use your optic nerve bandwidth. Just like a computer, your optic nerve transfers information with a speed of about 1MB/s, but when you read something from the screen you only use 0.1% of its full capacity.