Title: Evaluating and redesigning virtual reality 'underwater tourism' application based on heuristic method

Authors: Gede Rasben Dantes; Putu Hendra Suputra; I. Komang Sudarma; Ni Komang Arie Suwastini; Kadek Rihendra Dantes

Addresses: Information Management Department, Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Udayana Street, No. 11, Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia ' Information Management Department, Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Udayana Street, No. 11, Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia ' Education Technology Department, Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Udayana Street, No. 11, Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia ' English Education Department, Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Ahmad Yani Street, No. 67, Singaraja Bali, Indonesia ' Mechanical Engineering Department, Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Udayana Street, No. 11, Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia

Abstract: This study aimed at evaluating the application of VR e-Bahari in terms of the usability aspects. The method used to evaluate the usability of the semi-immersive VR applications was using the 12 heuristic rules proposed by Sutcliffe and Gault (2004) in order to provide suggestions and recommendations for improvements of the application, with considerations in the positions that would cause cyber-sickness symptoms. The study revealed that the application of VR e-Bahari had successfully represent underwater environment with excellent completeness of 3D objects that were needed well, such as coral reef, fish, underwater effect and lighting. However, the interaction between the users and applications was shown to be less natural, while sound effects and narrative information were inadequate and there was a lack of use of the navigation buttons on the application. The study thus recommend improving the application by improving the VR environment boundary, adding more navigation buttons, providing more information on each object and intensifying air bubble and impact effects. Further, test on positions of the head indicated that a quick up, down and rotating movements of the head would trigger symptoms of cyber-sickness, while users felt more comfortable using ANTVR compared to Google Cardboard.

Keywords: evaluation; usability; heuristic; semi-immersion; virtual reality; e-Bahari; electronic Bahari.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2020.110170

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2020 Vol.35 No.2, pp.225 - 238

Received: 30 Nov 2017
Accepted: 25 Aug 2018
Published online: 08 Oct 2020 *

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