BabiaXR: Facilitating experiments about XR data visualization

Abstract

BabiaXR is a toolset for conducting experiments about 3D data visualizations in extended reality (XR) in the browser. BabiaXR provides both components for building complex data visualizations, and for easily transforming them into scenes suitable for running experiments with subjects. For data visualization, it provides components to retrieve, filter, select, and visualize data. To facilitate empirical experiments with human subjects, it provides components for showing information to subjects, controlling their interaction with data, and recording their reactions. This enables the easy transformation of a certain data visualization scene into an experiment directly usable by subjects. BabiaXR is extensible, based on the A-Frame JavaScript framework for XR. As such, it is easily composable with other A-Frame components, and complex data visualization scenes can be created by using only HTML constructs. BabiaXR can be used in any XR device supporting WebXR, and with limited capabilities also in desktop and mobile devices.