The Realization of New Virtual Forest Experience Environment through PDA

Currently, human-computer interaction (HCI) is primarily focused on human-centric interactions; however, people experience many nonhuman-centric interactions during the course of a day. Interactions with nature, such as the experience of walking through a forest or unexpected encounter with wildlife, can imprint the beauty of nature in our memories. In this context, the present paper considers an experimental interface of such nonhuman interface for various PDA application designs through an imaginable interaction with nature. A virtual forest experience environment on PDA is made more realistic through two subsystems: "Panorama-viewer of forest" and "Remote animal sensing". The former is an application by which users can look out over the forest landscape in all directions with gyro-sensor inside PDA. The latter is a virtual system allowing users living in remote urban areas to experience interaction with wild deer in a forest virtually in real time. This novel design means that users can realize a forest experience through the PDA in their hands.