Zero-Install WebXR for City-Scale Environmental AR: Deployment and Evaluation of Situated Comprehension and Spatial Connection.

Authors

Ana Herruzo, Janki Patel, HemanthVarma Sangaraju, Sai Praveen Kumar Salapu, Alba Olive Marti

Published in

IEEE transactions on visualization and computer graphics. Volume PP. Nov 12, 2026. Epub Nov 12, 2026.

Abstract

Urban environmental sensing networks generate dense spatial data describing atmospheric conditions across city neighborhoods, yet this information remains largely inaccessible to residents within the environments it describes. We present a WebXR-based handheld augmented reality (AR) system that enables walk-up public access to city-scale environmental visualization through the mobile browser without application installation. The system integrates minute-level data from approximately 280 active weather stations across a 138-square-mile metropolitan area and visualizes atmospheric conditions as geospatially anchored particle fields within a browser-delivered urban model. Users access the experience by scanning QR codes, launching the AR interface in under ten seconds. A 48-hour deployment audit characterizes end-to-end pipeline latency, spatial binding accuracy, and rendering performance across heterogeneous mobile devices. A controlled in-situ within-subjects user study (N = 16) comparing the AR interface against a browser-based map presenting identical sensor data shows that participants perceived the situated AR interface as significantly more spatially connected to their physical surroundings (p = 0.002, d = 0.96) and reported higher perceived spatial comprehension of neighborhood-scale environmental conditions (p = 0.005, d = 0.81). This perceived advantage is consistent with reduced spatial translation effort: map users reported significantly greater cognitive work to relate the display to their physical surroundings (p = 0.031, d = 0.89). Preliminary behavioral probes with an independent sample are directionally consistent with the self-report findings, motivating an ongoing Phase 2 study (target N = 30). These results position standards-based WebXR as a viable civic interface layer for distributed urban sensing infrastructures.

PMID:
43019260
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Nov 2026.

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