Posts

paper on JEC

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Paper accepted in the Journal of Experimental Criminology.

Cory P. Haberman, Ming Tang, JC Barnes, Clay Driscoll, Bradley J. O’Guinn, Calvin Proffit, The Effect of Checklists on Evidence Collection During Initial Investigations A Randomized Controlled Trial in Virtual Reality. Journal of Experimental Criminology.

Objective To examine the impact of an investigative checklist on evidence collection by police officers responding to a routine burglary investigation.

Methods A randomized control trial was conducted in virtual reality to test the effectiveness of an investigative checklist. Officers in the randomly assigned treatment group (n = 25) were provided with a checklist during the simulated investigation. Officers in the control group (n = 26) did not have access to the checklist at any time. The checklist included five evidence items commonly associated with burglary investigations.

Results Officers who were randomly provided with an investigative checklist were significantly more likely to collect two evidence items located outside of the virtual victim’s home. Both treatment and control officers were about equally as likely to collect three evidence items located inside the residence.

Conclusions Investigative checklists represent a promising new tool officers can use to improve evidence collection during routine investigations. More research is needed, however, to determine whether checklists improve evidence collection or case clearances in real-life settings. Virtual reality simulations provide a promising tool for collecting data in otherwise difficult or complex situations to simulate

Keywords: Investigations, Burglary, Checklists, Policing, Experiment, Randomized controlled trial

more information on this VR police training project available here. 

paper at ASEBP

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Cory P. Haberman, Ming Tang, JC Barnes, Clay Driscoll, Bradley J. O’Guinn, Calvin Proffit,. Using Virtual Reality Simulations to Study Initial Burglary Investigations. American Society of Evidence-Based Policing’s 2023 Conference. 2023. Las Vegas. Nevada. (accepted)

Thanks for the support from the Cincinnati Police Department and the University of Cincinnati Research Grant. 

Using Virtual Reality Simulations to Study Initial Burglary Investigations

Cory P. Haberman, Ming Tang, JC Barnes, Clay Driscoll, Bradley J. O’Guinn, Calvin Proffit, University of Cincinnati

In this presentation, we discuss using virtual reality to study police investigations. First, we present the results of an experiment assessing the impact of providing investigative checklists to patrol officers responding to a burglary call for service in a large midwestern police agency. Second, we discuss the lessons learned from developing virtual reality simulations with limited budgets and student-based development teams. Third, we discuss the lessons learned from using virtual reality as a data collection technique for policing research.

More information is available at  VR for Police Training

 

paper at ACSE-ICTD conference

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Raman, M., Tang, M.  3D Visualization Development of Urban Environments for Simulated Driving Training and VR Development in Transportation Systems. ASCE ICTD 2023 Conference. Austin. TX. 06. 2023

 

This work is based on a project to develop a physics-based, 3D digital visual environment that is a replication of actual field conditions for over seventy miles of Ohio highways and city roads for use in a driving simulator for the Ohio Department of Transportation. While transportation engineering design traditionally involves 3D design in a 2D workspace to create the built environment in the context of a natural environment, this project required replication of existing natural + built environments in a 3D digital space, thereby presenting a unique challenge to develop a new, repeatable process to create a specific digital end product.

Using industry-specific software comprised of InfraWorks (urban infrastructure design), Civil 3D (terrain modeling), Rhino (3D product modeling), 3ds Max (rendering/animation), Maya (3D animation/simulation), and Python (scripting) that are traditionally dedicated to their fields, the team developed a process to integrate them outside of their intended purposes so that they could connect industry-specific functionalities to deliver a novel product that can now be utilized by multiple markets.

This process utilizes the functionalities of each software to resolve a portion of the puzzle and delivers it as a solution for the next step of development using another software. Using an iterative development cycle approach, the process bridges the gaps between the industries of Transportation Engineering, Visualization, Architecture, and Gaming to deliver the end product.

The resulting 3D digital model of the existing urban environment can now be readily used as a baseline product for any industry that would benefit from such a digital model. In transportation engineering, it can be used in Transportation Systems Planning, Surface Operations, and/or Workforce Development. In outside/connected markets, it can be used in UI-based development, interactive game-based multiplayer virtual meetings, and photo-realistic immersive models for use in VR/multiplayer exploratory environments. This process has been standardized for the digital development of existing site conditions and context for the architectural conceptualization of buildings and public spaces in the Architecture program at the University of Cincinnati. The same process has been carried into the next development phase for the Ohio Department of Transportation.

 

Project link:

Training Simulation for snowplow

paper on IJSW

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Ming Tang and Adekunle Adebisi’s paper titled Using Eye-Tracking for Traffic Control Signage Design at Highway Work Zone is published in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding. 

Tang, M. Adebisib, A. Using Eye-Tracking for Traffic Control Signage Design at Highway Work Zone. Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding.  Vol. 6, No. 2 (2022)

This paper discusses the application of Eye Tracking (ET) technologies for researchers to understand a driver’s perception of signage at the highway work zone. Combining ET with screen-based motion pictures and a driving simulator, the team developed an analytical method that allowed designers to evaluate signage design. Two experiments were set up to investigate how signage design might affect a driver’s visual attention and interaction under various environmental complexities and glare conditions. The study explores visual perception related to several spatial features, including signage modality, scene complexity, and color schemes. The ET method utilizes total fixation time and time-to-first fixation data to evaluate the effectiveness of signages presented through screen-based video and a driving simulator.

Keywords: Eye-tracking, Signage design, Work zone safety

about the IJSW journal

Signage and wayfinding are critical components of the urban landscape. In spite of their importance, there has been no journal or comprehensive scholarly platform dedicated to this topic. As such, scholars from a variety of academic disciplines (law, planning, engineering, business, art, economics, architecture, landscape architecture, industrial design, and graphic design) publish work in journals within their home disciplines and rarely have a chance to communicate their cross-disciplinary findings. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding seeks to bring them together.

Sponsored by the Academic Advisory Council for Signage Research and Education (AACSRE), this online, open access journal seeks to be the home for scholarship in the field of signage and wayfinding, and to make such scholarship accessible to academics and practitioners alike.

upcoming book: Architecture Design in the Age of Extended Reality

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Handbook for Metaverse, Digital Twin, and Virtual Reality Development

As the director of the Extended Reality Lab at UC, I am thrilled to report that I signed a publication contract with Routledge on an authored book titled  “Architecture Design in the Age of Extended Reality, the handbook for Metaverse, Digital Twin, and Virtual Reality development”. The book includes 17 chapters covering the topics of XR in Architecture, development process from modeling, material, lighting, project management, interaction design, user interface design, character, animation, node-based programming, digital twin, project showcases,  virtual reality, mixed reality and augmented reality development and data analysis for VR-based evaluation. Routledge will publish the book in 2023.

Cheers.

 

Author:  Ming Tang, Adam Sambuco.  Publisher: Routledge. Publishing time: 2023

The book contains learning material and real project examples from Ming Tang’s XR studio courses taught at UC. Please check out another book by Ming Tang on Parametric Building Design, also published by Routledge.