The paper discusses research and development in the field of software visualization based on virtual reality environments. Spatial metaphors, in particular, a city metaphor and different versions of cosmic space metaphors, play an important role in such systems. The paper reviews such aspects of the theory of computer visualization and the theory of visualization metaphor as metaphor features.
A brief overview of the projects of software visualization systems based on virtual reality is provided. Among the systems developed over the past decades, one can find systems both for program visualization and for visual programming. Descriptions of prototypes of software visualization systems, software objects visualization and supercomputer performance data visualization, realized by the authors of the paper, are presented. These prototypes, designed for virtual reality environments, were developed with the use of several versions of a cosmic space metaphor and an extended city metaphor. The paper also discusses such psychological aspects of the human factor in developing software visualization systems with the use of virtual reality as presence, performance and several issues connected with control and navigation.
The goal of the research and development, discussed in the paper, is the search for approaches that will enable efficient use of virtual reality in solving complex problems, which software professionals come across.

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