Virtual Environments
Kay M. Stanney

1. Overview
   Applications using virtual environment (VE) technology have grown tremendously over the past decade, yet users of such systems often encounter difficult multi-modal interaction techniques, navigational challenges, and adverse effects such as sickness and aftereffects. This chapter reviews the current state-of-the-art in VE technology, provides design and implementation strategies, discusses health and safety concerns and potential countermeasures, and presents the latest in VE usability engineering approaches. Current efforts in a number of application domains are reviewed. The chapter should enable readers to better specify design and implementation requirements for VE applications and prepare them to use this advancing technology in a manner that minimizes health and safety concerns.
2. System Requirements
   • Hardware requirements
     • Multi-modal I/Os
     • Tracking
     • Gesture recognition
     • Interaction techniques
   • Software requirements
     • Modeling
     • Autonomous agents
   • Application requirements
3. Design and Implementation Strategies
   • Cognitive aspects
     • Multi-modal interaction design
     • Perceptual illusions
     • Navigation and wayfinding
   • Content development
   • Technology management
   • Products liability
   • Business issues
4. Health and Safety Issues
   • Cybersickness, adaptation, and aftereffects
   • Social impact
5. Virtual Environment Usability Engineering
   • Usability techniques for virtual environment systems
   • Automated techniques for VE usability assessment
   • Sense of presence
   • Virtual ergonomics
6. Application Domains
7. Conclusions