Comfortable navigation in large-scale virtual worlds when constrained by small-scale physical environment

In one embodiment, a method includes segmenting a layout of a physical space surrounding a user into physical segments; generating, based on the physical segments, virtual paths for a virtual environment through which the user can navigate by traveling the physical segments; identifying, based on a current location of the user with respect to the physical space, a portion of the physical segments for which to enable an intrusion detection feature; detecting a physical object in the portion of the physical segments that corresponds to a particular virtual path of the virtual paths; and in response to the detecting, displaying a representation of the physical object in the particular virtual path.