Improving Early Navigation in Time-Lapse Video with Spread-Frame Loading

Abstract

Time-lapse videos are often navigated by scrubbing with a slider. When networks are slow or images are large, however, even thumbnail versions load so slowly that scrubbing is limited to the start of the video. We developed a frame-loading technique called spread-loading that enables scrubbing regardless of delivery rate. Spread-loading orders frame delivery to maximize coverage of the entire sequence; this provides a temporal overview of the entire video that can be fully navigated at any time during delivery. The overview initially has a coarse temporal resolution, becoming finer-grained with each new frame. We compared spread-loading with traditional linear loading in a study where participants were asked to find specific episodes in a long time-lapse sequence, using three views with increasing levels of detail. Results show that participants found target episodes significantly and substantially faster with spread-loading, regardless of whether they could click to change the load point. Users rated spread-loading as requiring less effort, and strongly preferred the new technique.

Publication
Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2019. 12 pages.
Dr. Carl Gutwin
Professor

The Interaction Lab, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Michael van der Kamp
Summer Intern

The Interaction Lab, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Md. Sami Uddin
PhD Candidate

The Interaction Lab, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Dr. Kevin Stanley
Professor

University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Dr. Ian Stavness
Associate Professor

University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Dr. Sally Vail
Research Scientist

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.