Content uploaded by John Krygier
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by John Krygier on Mar 13, 2014
Content may be subject to copyright.
Animation and the Role of Map Design in Scientific Visualization
Abstract
Scientists visualize data for a range of purposes, from exploring unfamiliar data sets to communicating insights revealed by visual analyses. As the supply of numerical environmental data has increased, so has the need for effective visual methods, especially for exploratory data analysis. Map animation is particularly attractive to earth system scientists who typically study large spatio-temporal data sets. In addition to the "visual variables" of static maps, animated maps are composed of three basic design elements or "dynamic variables"–scene duration, rate of change between scenes, and scene order. The dynamic variables can be used to emphasize the location of a phenomenon, emphasize its attributes, or visualize change in its spatial, temporal, and attribute dimensions. In combination with static maps, graphs, diagrams, images, and sound, animation enhances analysts' ability to express data in a variety of complementary forms.
... From this, early conceptualisations of geovisualisation focused on the role of maps as data exploration and spatial analysis tools that could be used to enhance the identification of patterns in spatial data (MacEachren & Ganter, 1990). This was related to the scientific visualisation of large datasets through animation (Dibiase et al., 1992) and increasingly sophisticated computer technologies and geographic information systems that created new opportunities in cartography (MacEachren, 1994). This was outlined with a map-use cube, whose axes defined the level of interactivity, the map audience (public or private) and the objectives of use (either revealing unknowns or presenting knows). ...
A fundamental problem in geospatial interface designs is how aspects of user cognition may be incorporated into their design structures for improved reasoning, decision making, and comprehension in geographic spaces. Narrative environments are one such example of geographic spaces, where stories are told and visually displayed. Recently, geospatial narrative environments have become a popular medium for visualising information about space and time in the Earth sciences. Consequently, effective ways of enhancing user cognition in these environments through visual narrative comprehension is becoming increasingly important, particularly for the development of interactive learning environments for geo-education. It was hoped that subtle visualisations of future tasks (environmental precues) could be incorporated into an ambient narrative interface that would improve user cognition and decision making in an immersive 3D virtual narrative environment, which acted as an experimental analogue for how the interface could operate in real-world environments. To address this, a hybrid navigational interface called Future Vision was developed. In addition to controller-based locomotion, the interface provides subliminal environmental precues in the form of simulated future thoughts by teleporting the user to a future location, where the outcome of a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) decision making task could be briefly seen. The navigational effectiveness of the interface was analysed using the Steering law: a geographic analysis technique for trajectory-based human-computer interactions. The results showed that Future Vision enhanced participants' navigational abilities through improvements in average task completion times and movement speed. When comparing the experimental interface (Future Vision) with the ii control interface (an HTC Vive controller), the results showed that the experimental interface was 2.9 times as effective for navigation. This was in comparison to an improvement of 3.3 times for real walking when compared to navigation using an Xbox 360 game controller in another study. The similarity in these values suggests that Future Vision allows for more realistic walking behaviours in virtual environments. Improvements were also seen in the 2AFC decision making task when compared to participants in the control group, who were unguided in their decision making. These improvements occurred even when participants reported being unaware of the precues. In addition, Future Vision produced a similar information transfer rate to brain-computer interfaces in virtual reality, where participants move virtual objects via motor imagery and the imagined performance of actions through thought. This suggests that visualisations of future thoughts operate in a motor imagery paradigm that is associated with the generation and execution of a user's goals and intentions. The results also suggest that Future Vision behaves as an optimally designed cognitive user interface for ambient narrative communication during navigation and decision making. Overall, these findings demonstrate how extended reality narrative style GIS digital representations may be incorporated into cognitively inspired geospatial interfaces. When employed in real or virtual geographic narrative environments, these interfaces may allow for new types of quantitative GIS analysis techniques to be carried out in the cognitive sciences, leading to insights that may result in improved geospatial interface designs in the future.
... Dynamic variables are helpful when designing animations and self-reconfigurable physicalisations. Discussions on dynamic variables in the literature have focused separately on visualisations [37,[62][63][64][65], sound [39,57], and scent [47]. Nonetheless, given that dynamic variables are orthogonal to all other variables, an account that abstracts from the specifics of sensory modalities is needed. ...
Data physicalisations, or physical visualisations, represent data physically, using variable properties of physical media. As an emerging area, Data physicalisation research needs conceptual foundations to support thinking about and designing new physical representations of data and evaluating them. Yet, it remains unclear at the moment (i) what encoding variables are at the designer's disposal during the creation of physicalisations, (ii) what evaluation criteria could be useful, and (iii) what methods can be used to evaluate physicalisations. This article addresses these three questions through a narrative review and a systematic review. The narrative review draws on the literature from Information Visualisation, HCI and Cartography to provide a holistic view of encoding variables for data. The systematic review looks closely into the evaluation criteria and methods that can be used to evaluate data physicalisations. Both reviews offer a conceptual framework for researchers and designers interested in designing and evaluating data physicalisations. The framework can be used as a common vocabulary to describe physicalisations and to identify design opportunities. We also proposed a seven-stage model for designing and evaluating physical data representations. The model can be used to guide the design of physicalisations and ideate along the stages identified. The evaluation criteria and methods extracted during the work can inform the assessment of existing and future data physicalisation artifacts.
... Furthermore, due to the wide variety of information that needs to be presented, eight categories were defined, one for each knowledge topic, and a guided linear narrative through immersive scrolling [38] was used as this is more effective for users than jumping from one tab to the next without a sequence [39]. Finally, narrative texts with images, accompanied by 2D and 3D web maps created in ArcGIS Pro according to the appropriate cartographic rules [40,41], and embedded content from other web apps were combined into an engaging experience via the app's interactive builder, as described in the following section ( Figure 2). ...
Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese, located in the southeastern Aegean Sea, Greece. The island’s remarkable location both in a prominent geodynamic space and at a crossroads of East, West and South has endowed it with a unique wealth of geological, biological, cultural, and traditional heritage. Steep mountain ranges consisting of Alpine Mesozoic rocks alternate with low-altitude plateaus featuring marine and lacustrine sediments that contain fossils of past life. In addition, the transition of barren land to lush forests where numerous species of flora and fauna thrive is unique to Greek ecosystems. This environment hosted civilizations and activities that gradually led to the present-day cultural and religious state of the island, where people and nature coexist respectfully on one of the country’s most favourite destinations. In an effort to further enhance the public’s awareness of the geo-cultural heritage of Kos, an online ESRI Hub was created, featuring several individual ESRI StoryMaps web apps regarding each specific aspect of the island’s heritage. The goal of this paper is to discuss the importance of using such means for disseminating geoscientific information to the public, to describe the methods used and to give a brief presentation of its content.
... The term visual variable is commonly used to describe the various perceived differences in map symbols that are used to represent geographic phenomena [37]. The concept of visual variables was introduced by Bertin [33] and subsequently modified by others [21,38,39]. Bertin [32] considered the viewing of these visual variables as a preattentive process [40]. ...
This paper studies the design of point symbols on widely used online maps and apps that portray tourist points of interest (POIs). Tourist maps are among the most commonly used types of maps nowadays. The ease of travel leads to an ever-increasing demand for tourist maps. Therefore, appropriate map design, content and technical means are necessary for better information transfer and communication between the map and the user. Online maps and apps were selected according to specific criteria (e.g., language, geographic area, pictographic symbols, interactivity). Pictographic point symbols for POIs related to tourism activities were collected and described by variables. The frame and the pictogram of the point symbols were the two main directions for choosing the descriptive variables. Description is based on the cognitive scheme for interpretation of cartographic symbols with some improvements. The study reveals the characteristics of the point symbols and constitutes a documentation of the applied practices. The main trends prevalent in the design of these symbols are highlighted and commented on in relation to traditional cartographic practices and guidelines for the design of point symbols.
... Nowadays, the majority of the maps are distributed as digital products using the World Wide Web; they can be either static, animated, or interactive. In any case, the maps' design is directly connected to the implementation of visual [2], dynamic [3] and/or sound [4] variables which are utilized towards the representation of qualitative and/or quantitative differences that characterize geographical entities and/or phenomena. Compared to other types of spatial representations (e.g., satellite images, orthophotos, etc.), both the effectiveness and the efficiency of the map-reading process are directly influenced by the selections made during the cartographic design process. ...
This article aims to present the authors' perspective regarding the challenges and opportunities of mouse-tracking methodology while performing experimental research, particularly related to the map-reading process. We briefly describe existing metrics, visualization techniques and software tools utilized for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of experimental mouse-movement data towards the examination of both perceptual and cognitive issues. Moreover, we concisely report indicative examples of mouse-tracking studies in the field of cartography. The article concludes with summarizing mouse-tracking strengths/potential and limitations, compared to eye tracking. In a nutshell, mouse tracking is a straightforward method, particularly suitable for tracking real-life behaviors in interactive maps, providing the valuable opportunity for remote experimentation ; even though it is not suitable for tracking the actual free-viewing behavior, it can be concurrently utilized with other state-of-the-art experimental methods.
Personalized mappings become popular among the public with the support of data diversity and device diversity. To develop personalized maps, constructing map symbols through automated ways is beneficial. The formal representation of map symbols (i.e., expressing map symbols by mathematical operators) is fundamental to the automated construction of map symbols. A previous study to evaluate the feasibility of structures of Chinese characters for representing map symbols shows that 77.5% of map symbols can be represented by them, although there are imperfections in some cases. It means that: (1) the other 22.5% of symbols should be formally represented by other mathematical solutions, and (2) those imperfect cases should be made perfect through some modification or refinements. In this study, we solve the representation problems of these two types of map symbols (i.e., the map symbol did not or imperfectly fit the structures of Chinese characters) by employing additional basic operators and proposing some metric and color modifications. To validate these proposed solutions, experiments have been carried out by using eight sets of symbols that are publicly available (e.g., Google Icons). The results indicated that almost all the map symbols can be formally represented with additional operators and metric and color modifications. The percentages of map symbols that did not fit structures of Chinese characters solved by these operators and modifications are 2.4% and 20.1%, respectively. The percentages of map symbols that imperfectly fit them solved by these operators and modifications are 8.7% and 8%, respectively. This work could not only enrich cartographic theory but also prompt the mathematization of map symbol construction.
Following two successful editions, the third edition of GIS: A Computing Perspective has been completely revised and updated, with extensive new content reflecting the significant progress that has been made in the realm of GIS within the last 20 years. Major new topics covered for the first time in this edition include: graph databases and graph query languages, ontology engineering and qualitative spatial reasoning, geosensor networks and GeoAI, decentralized computing and online algorithms, and critical GIS and data sovereignty.
Features
Includes an entirely new chapter on AI and GIS, including ontologies and the Semantic Web, knowledge representation (KR) and spatial reasoning, machine learning and spatial analysis, and neural networks and deep learning
Presents new material reflecting the advances made in cloud computing, stream computing, and sensor networks, as well as extensively revised and updated content on cartography, visualization, and interaction design
Connects the technology to the social aspects and implications of GIS, including privacy and fair information practices, FATE (fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics), and codes of conduct for responsible use of GIS
Integrates the necessary background to foundational areas, such as databases and data structures, algorithms and indexes, and system architecture and AI, provided in context so readers new to those topics can still understand the concepts being discussed
Incorporates over 20 carefully explained spatial algorithms; over 60 inset boxes with in-depth material that enriches the central topics; and more than 300 color figures to support the reader in mastering key concepts
Welcomes a new coauthor, Qian (Chayn) Sun, to the third edition, who brings her expertise in topics such as web mapping, cloud computing, critical geography, and machine learning with big spatial data
Intended for anyone interested in understanding GIS, especially students taking upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in computer science and geography, as well as academics, researchers, practitioners, and professionals working in the field and involved in advanced GIS projects.
The human visual system is well-known for being one of the most powerful processing systems. What happens when you combine technologies like image processing, computer graphics, animation, simulation, multimedia and virtual reality graphics, which have been developed with the help of computer hardware and software because of their ability to present information in new ways, generate new patterns, and provide a broader understanding and awareness. Furthermore, it is capable of resolving challenges related to cartographic visualization. It highlights the method of signing geospatial data, as well as addressing ever more complex issues that have emerged with the emergence of new needs when mapping to increase the opportunities for understanding, exploring, analyzing and transmitting information. Over the last decade, cartographic visualization has developed and improved. It is now the visualization time to assess this progress and focus on defining a future vision for cartographic visualization. By the electronic revolution and the introduction of technology and computer programs into geographical studies, the outputs of these programs were of a high degree of precision and clarity in terms of description, analysis, and representation of all geographical data, whether natural or human. As a result, cartographic visualization methods grew more realistic and acceptable by reflecting the map reader's right vision, which provides a clear and exact picture of everything that can be represented and obtained from geographical data.
This paper addresses the graphic portrayal of geographic time-series data. It explores a variety of graphic strategies for the simultaneous symbolic representation of time and space, and summarizes these strategies in a conceptual framework of potential use to cartographers, geographers, and graphic designers. These strategies range from statistical diagrams to maps to video animations to interactive graphics systems with which the analyst might freely manipulate time as a variable. -from Author
Mental visualization and tools that foster it have recently been acknowledged as significant factors in scientific creativity. Cartography occupies a critical position in the growing array of scientific visualization tools, particularly for geographers, earth scientists and atmospheric scientists. Treating the map as a visualization tool leads to a different perspective on cartography than that generally taken when the map is viewed as a communication device. The goal of cartography and cartographic research shifts from a search for the optimal map to a search for spatial data abstraction methods that prompt pattern identification and lead to insight. A model is proposed for cartographic visualization that stresses the role of maps in data exploration. Emphasis is on the potential for maps to stimulate scientific insight by facilitating the discovery of patterns and relationships in spatial data. Following from this pattern identification model for cartographic visualization some perspectives are offered ...
Introduces the idea of a hierarchical description of systems, and describes methods appropriate for examining the problems associated with diffferent layers of study: a bottom layer of simple data and other details within a single system (for which geographic information systems may be appropriate); an intermediate layer of complex dynamics (eg ecosystem structure and dynamics); and a top, strategic layer which reflects ecosystem changes with such characteristics as diversity, variability, system architecture, resilience and replacement. Applications are discussed in the context of dynamic maps of forest dieback, and changes in agricultural land use at Berchtesgaden, Germany. Dynamic maps have been successful in testing and improving models, in evaluating scientific hypotheses, in finding errors in data and assumptions, and in checking and developing strategies. -P.J.Jarvis
Telidon is an advanced videotext developed by the Canadian Department of Communications and first released in 1978. This paper discusses the potential of Telidon as a means of displaying maps. Initial research with maps on Telidon has shown that there are two main problems: input to the system and design for the new medium. The paper discusses both issues. Research completed so far clearly demonstrates that although we can interface computer mapping programs with Telidon, it is not satisfactory to display existing digital maps without modification, and in some cases total re-design. A number of specific sub-problems such as colour, text, animation and sequencing are discussed. Telidon can be an important means of delivering geographic information in map form directly to Canadian homes.-from Author
A graphic script is a temporally sequenced multi-window graphic presentation. An individual window might contain a map, text with a definition or numerical statement, or an aspatial statistical graphic such as a histogram or scatterplot. The script controls the information content and symbolization of the display. This paper describes the concept of the graphic script and examines the role of graphic scripts in both cartographic animation and the interactive exploratory analysis of geographic data. It also suggests strategies for the automated generation of graphic scripts. As a coding strategy, the graphic script is a starting point for the development of an automated method for selecting a meaningful sequence of views of a multivariate spatial-temporal dataset. -Author
Modern computer technology provides cartographers with a host of new display potentialities not possible with traditional printed maps. One of these is sequencing, or the display of map elements in a a particular order. This paper evaluates sequencing of chloropleth maps via reaction time experiments with human subjects. Informal experiments reveal that subjects favor some form of sequencing, while formal experiments show no significant difference between traditional and sequenced maps for either information acquisition or memory. Since subjects find sequencing appealing and it does not appear to have negative effects on map learning, software developers may wish to consider including it as part of their cartographic display systems. -Authors
Animation as applied to thematic cartography is conspicuous by its absence. This article explores the reasons for the lack of incorporation of animation into cartography and the future prospects of animation methods. Examples of dynamic information as traditionally portrayed in static maps are reviewed as are some of the pioneering works in animated cartographic sequences. Techniques in computer animation are discussed, and difficulties associated with the dissemination of animated cartography are examined. Future research possibilities for animation are proposed in light of recent cartographic and technological developments such as bivariate choropleth mapping, digital video interactive, multimedia graphics, and scientific visualization. -Authors
Predictions of the 1960s about the computer's potential to change cartography are finally being fulfilled. Dynamic maps for vehicle navigation, interactive cartographic/statistical tools, and map animation are being investigated actively. As these new environments for mapping become available, we must reevaluate past questions about transformations from reality to data and data to map. In this paper, we consider these transformation questions in the context of statistical map animation. The issues discussed were raised in producing a “map movie” depicting the spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) over time. Jenks' data model concept is used as the basis for a typology of data models representing phenomena typically depicted by enumeration unit data. The typology is then used to evaluate symbolization decisions for AIDS incidence maps. Implications for symbol selection imposed by dynamic rather than static maps are considered, as are technical issues involved in producing the animation on a microcomputer platform. A hybrid symbolization method that we have termed the “chorodot” is suggested as a way to meet the constraints on symbolization imposed by animation and to represent the appropriate data model for AIDS incidence.
The numerical model simulation of thunderstorms in three spatial dimensions and time is leading to im proved understanding of severe storm structure and evolution. The results from one of these simulations is presented using a variety of display techniques to illus trate the water and ice structure of a severe storm, how air moves and rotates in and around the storm, and how different physical processes influence storm rotation near the ground. The visualization of the data was a team ef fort, and the accompanying video illustrates the value of animation in studying complex fluid flow problems and the kind of visualization tools that will be readily avail able to most researchers in the near future.
Mathematical models of the earth's climate provide intriguing opportunities to study a wide range of interdisciplinary problems involving processes within the climate system in a controlled and systematic manner. This paper is intended as a nontechnical review of climate modeling to enable researchers who are unfamiliar with the topic to better evaluate and judge the credibility of the model results. The types of climate models available for climate research are reviewed here, and four broad categories of climate models are identified. These range from the more simple energy balance models (EBMs) and radiative-convective models (RCMs), to the more complex statistical-dynamical models (SDMs), to the most powerful tools yet available for studying climate, the general circulation models (GCMs). This last category includes gridpoint and spectral GCMs. Four representations of the oceans which can be coupled to GCMs are described and include prescribed sea surface temperatures, an energy balance or swamp ocean, a mixed layer or slab ocean, or a fully computed ocean general circulation model. Selected examples considered representative of the types of studies possible with the various classes of models are given. Taken together, the spectrum of climate models provides a hierarchy of learning and research tools with which to effectively study the extremes of past climates, the vagaries of present-day climate, and possible climatic fluctuations well into the future.