At this point, the final project will be a virtual reality installation to view and experience possibly the entire worldbank database, especially by the means of data sonification. This will be achieved by importing data sets from the worldbank's database into the game engine Unity to create stereoscopic 3D visuals and graphs. By the use of the worldbank's Developer's API, possibly the entire database can be implemented into the project. Furthermore, sonification and sound design for the data will be created and implemented in Unity, using the FMOD sound engine. When using the installation at the 3D Lab at Hochschule Darmstadt, head-tracking in combination with a 7.1 surround headset by Logitech will be implemented to create an even better immersive binaural sound experience. The interface between a Vicon tracking system with Unity under the focus on creating an interactive head related transfer function has already been created and is ready to use. However, the installation will not be depended on the Vicon tracking system and will work with any surround or stereo sound system.
The visual representation of the data will be relatively straight forward, using standard visual data representation methods. A major focus will lie on the data sonification in combination with the visuals, focusing on not only to increase the immersion of the virtual reality installation, but most importantly to increase work flow and usability of the installation, as well as the quality of the data representation. To combine classic working with data with the new audio-visual VR data installation, the installation will be controlled through a tablet device, so users are still able to view and compare hard numbers and sheets. So while being entirely immersed into the abstract data, users can always fall back to classic representations and numbers.
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