Point cloud data is increasingly used as a digital representation of three-dimensional objects in the real world. As acquisition devices become more commonly available (some smartphones now include Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors), “intelligent” buildings provide growing amounts of multi-variate data and the size of the resulting point clouds continues to increase, novel techniques for visualization and exploration of the data within its spatial context are required. Traditional tools for this purpose rely on two-dimensional desktop environments which often pose challenges such as a steep learning curve and difficulties in correctly conveying spatial context. Recent research has explored the use of Virtual Reality (VR) for a more immersive exploration of point clouds. This project introduces an immersive VR environment, which provides the ability to explore multiple scalar fields associated with point cloud data using two distinct visualization methods. Additionally, users can annotate the point cloud with a virtual painting device while navigating with natural walking movement by means of an omnidirectional treadmill. This functionality can be used for manual classification of objects in the point cloud as well as for generation of artificial scalar data where none is available. A pilot study is then conducted to assess user satisfaction and system usability.
