Enhancing Team Interaction and Cross-platform Access in Web-based Collaborative Virtual Environments

Utilization of web-based Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE) enhances user's interaction over large geographical distances. Deploying a variety of VR technologies increases demands to develop VR applications which would run on various systems and devices. Otherwise, user's access is limited by the supported operating system. Nowadays, concerning the quality and safety of web technologies, it is possible to provide Global Collaborative Virtual Environments (G-CVE) with cross-platform support. This paper introduces the LIRKIS G-CVE web-based system, built on top of the Networked-Aframe framework. The architecture of LIRKIS G-CVE is presented, together with is innovative Smart-client interface (SCI) component, which utilizes smart devices, such as smartphones and tablets, as input devices. The advantage of SCI over the standard input component of the Networked-Aframe is demonstrated via a series of experiments.