The SURREAL 3D Computer Graphics and Augmented Reality Research Group from the MUSIC Laboratory at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, in collaboration with the Built Environment and Energy Management Laboratory (EMBER Lab) from the School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, won the prestigious 1st prize “Best Demo Paper Award!” at the ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences (IMX) held in Nantes, France from June 12 to 15, 2023.

The the full article is accessible here: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3573381.3597229

This achievement was the result of their joint efforts within VARCITIES, which is led by the EMBER Lab supervisor, Professor Dionysia Kolokotsa.  The team comprised Minas Katsiokalis, Katerina Mania, Elisavet Tsekeri, Katerina Lilli, Kostas Gombakis, and Dionysia Kolokotsa.

The ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences (IMX) serves as the premier platform for researchers and practitioners from diverse disciplines such as human-computer interaction, multimedia engineering and design, media studies, media psychology, and sociology to present and discuss their research on interactive media experiences. The conference provides an ideal forum to showcase demo ranging from media applications, prototypes, and proof-of-concepts related to emerging media, interactive TV experiences, and VR/AR/MR experiences.

The research conducted by the SURREAL and EMBER Labs focused on designing and developing mixed reality experiences that utilize the user’s location and physical environment to provide immersive and empathic experiences related to environmental data. By developing interactive experiences in virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, the research team aims to enhance people’s understanding of the influence of environmental factors on their overall well-being.

This research led ot the creation of the GONATURE AR game, which was showcased as a demo paper at the IMX conference under the title “GoNature AR: Air Quality & Noise Visualization through a Multimodal and Interactive Augmented Reality Experience“. This interactive visualization experience effectively shows users the impact of air and noise pollution on human health and well-being using mixed reality technologies.

The GoNature AR game will be available for all of VARCITIES’ pilot sites.