Abstract:

We describe a tool enabling non-professionals to create digital layouts for large-scale graphical virtual environments. The design tool is based on "elements of the city image" as described by the urban planner, Kevin Lynch (1960). These elements serve as both organizational principle and navigational aid. Further work is needed to situate the tool within a virtual environment so that output from the tool is transformed as extensions to the virtual world. Here we describe the theoretical basis for the tool, implementation of an initial prototype that simulates a virtual world through a series of composited frames, and next-step revisions stemming from users' experiences with the prototype.