Clarity and Computational Efficiency of Orbital Boundary Labeling
2026-03-09 • Human-Computer Interaction
Human-Computer Interaction
AI summaryⓘ
The authors studied how to put labels around circular screens, like smartwatches or dashboards, in a neat and easy-to-read way. They created new methods for placing labels outside the circle, connected by short lines that don't cross each other. They tested two types of lines—curved (orbital-radial) and straight—and found that both helped people read labels accurately, but straight lines helped people read faster. Their work aims to make circular interfaces less cluttered and easier to use.
circular interfaceslabel placementorbital boundary labelingleader linescrossing-freeuser experimentcomputational algorithmsradial visualizationinterface design
Authors
Markus Wallinger, Annika Bonerath, Soeren Terziadis, Jules Wulms, Martin Nöllenburg
Abstract
Circular interfaces such as those found on smartwatches, automotive dashboards, cockpit instruments, or in radial visualizations pose unique challenges for placing readable labels. Traditional rectangular labeling methods waste screen space and create visual clutter on these constrained displays. In orbital boundary labeling, the labels (e.g., the features' names) are placed in an annulus-shaped orbit outside of the figure, and each label is connected to its feature using a short, crossing-free leader line. We contribute algorithms to compute two leader styles, orbital-radial and straight-line, for uniform and non-uniform label sizes, optimizing for crossing-free shortest leaders. We evaluate the model and the algorithms with computational experiments and a controlled user experiment. The user experiment reveals that both leader types exhibit similar accuracy, but straight-line leaders yield faster response times.