Visualizing Software Architectures in Virtual Reality with an Island Metaphor

Abstract

Software architecture is abstract and intangible. Tools for visualizing software architecture can help to comprehend the implemented architecture but they need an effective and feasible visual metaphor, which maps all relevant aspects of a software architecture and fits all types of software. We focus on the visualization of module-based software—such as OSGi, which underlies many large software systems—in virtual reality, since this offers a much higher comprehension potential compared to classical 3D visualizations. Particularly, we present an approach for visualizing OSGi-based software architectures in virtual reality based on an island metaphor. The software modules are visualized as islands on a water surface. The island system is displayed in the confines of a virtual table where users can explore the software visualization on multiple levels of granularity by performing intuitive navigational tasks. Our approach allows users to get a first overview about the complexity of the software system by interactively exploring its modules as well as the dependencies between them.