Assessing the effectiveness of temporal legends in environmental visualization (original) (raw)
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Cartographic animation and legends for temporal maps: Exploration and or interaction
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Temporal cartographic animations are increasingly common. For users to understand a temporal animation, they must not only apply an appropriate spatial knowledge schema that allows them to interpret relative geographic location, they must also apply an appropriate temporal schema that allows them to interpret meaning inherent in the sequence and pacing of the animation. Similar to static maps, then, the animated maps should be accompanied by a legend that prompts an appropriate schema. However, with animation, the legends function, not only as an interpretation devices but also as a navigation tools. This paper describes potential legends for temporal animation and argues that choices among them should be made with regard to the nature of the temporal data. A test is proposed to assess the viability of the different legends.
Defining visualization operations for temporal cartographic animation design
International journal of applied earth observation and …, 2002
Cartographic animation has emerged as a potentially effective visualization technique that has an intuitive power in representing dynamic geographical phenomena through its ability to show interrelations amongst geospatial data's components, location, attribute and time. Whereas cartographic animation has prominently featured in communicating geospatial information, their use as tools for visual exploration has been hampered by lack of the necessary functionality that is capable of allowing users to interact with the dynamic display. In this paper, we outline an approach that defines visualizations operations or basic visual actions that implement a viewer's task of exploration and characterization of geospatial structures in data or phenomena. The defined operations go along to reinforcing the quest in enabling users to perceive relationships and be able to manipulate geospatial data using more efficient visual tools while keeping low on cognitive demands.
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Technological evolution has paved the way for a variety of small dynamic maps. The increasing use of the Internet and WWW has played a major role in the dissemination of map applications. Interactive map animations open a new way of thinking when visualizing spatial data. This paper focuses on the presenta-tion of the temporal dimension of spatial phenomena on dynamic maps. The proposed methods are discussed in the light of how people perceive time, and are modelled on the basis of theory for common visual variables in cartography. Multimedia presentations are not limited to graphic visualization. The audio-channels on a modern computer can impart useful information by sounds in interaction with the graphic display .
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Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden vermenigvuldigd en/of openbaar gemaakt worden door middle van druk, fotokopie of op welke andere wijze dan ook zonder voorafgaande schrifttelijke toestemming van de auteur. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm or any other means, without written permission of the author. The financial support to undertake this work was made possible through the ITC/DGIS fund. Who modeled in me the zeal for pursuit of knowledge Learn from the mistakes of others-you can never live long enough to make them all yourself-John Luther Over the span of time that I spent working on this thesis I had the privilege of meeting and working with many individuals from all around the world. I am indebted to their friendship, advice, encouragement and criticism, aspects that have enormously contributed to my successful stay and study in the Netherlands. Though I might not be able to name all of these wonderfu...
Human interaction with animated maps: The portrayal of the passage of time
2007
Methods for interactive map animations are still in an early stage compared to more traditional cartography, and the potentials for improvements are significant. This paper focuses on better design for map animations, particularly for the portrayal of the information regarding the temporal dimension. A series of animations are presented and discussed and subsequently introduced to a wider group of people. In the responses from this group it was not possible to show any significant difference in how well people respond to the different animations, nevertheless people do have preferences for certain animation types depending on which time-scale they represent.
A Study of the User Friendliness of Temporal Legends in Animated Maps
2012
Among other topics related to the visual aspect of cartographic products, current research addresses the problem of user friendliness. the most significant research concerns those products that evolve most rapidly, a typical example being interactive dynamic maps. this group of cartographic works includes products that are relatively challenging for users with respect to their temporally fluid content and the possibility of interactive manipulation. the article begins with a basic discussion of user-friendliness in cartographic products; in this context it addresses the historical development of the notion of cartography as a science, as well as the evolution of the ways in which it has been defined and of its subjects of interest. it demonstrates that, aside from notions of cartography as a technical discipline, it is also of interest from a linguistic point of view for its role as a mean of communication between cartographer and map user. still greater emphasis is placed on the design aspects of cartographic production. the study offers the example of recent developments in czech cartographic production, in which the last twenty years have seen a significant differentiation between published cartographic products and amateur cartography generally. this applies to creation as well as user base. next the article describes a study on the user-friendliness of temporal legends, which are very common in animated maps. the goal of this study, which was conducted during the summer of 2010, was not only to evaluate the given temporal legends, but also to investigate the extent to which users were able to work with temporal variables (with time) in a cartographic product. among the tools for collecting data was a form of online test. this test posed questions to respondents and automatically measured the amount of time it took them to find their answers. this method was based on the assumption that, given two cartographic works containing similar content, the work which enables the user to find information more quickly is the more user-friendly of the two. the results of the test were then analyzed on the basis of an objective standard for comparing qualities in a cartography work. the authors conclude by suggesting future directions for research on the subject.
Evaluating an animated and static time series map of District Six: A visual and cognitive approach
South African Journal of Geomatics
Visualization of spatial information is an important aspect in the representation of map displays. Maps today are visually adapted to a variety of mediums in displaying spatial information temporally and as time series phenomena. GIS technology has incorporated tools for analysing these spatio-temporal trends. However map users are overwhelmed by the amount of information in these map displays and therefore experience cognitive overload. In this study we find that static and animated maps have their respective advantages in the visualization of the map reader by placing participants through a structured set of questions. All these facets exist in the visual and cognitive realm of the map reader. District Six is a unique area that has experienced significant spatial change in the last century, mainly attributed to its political history. This has been depicted in a conventional static and animated time series map representation which has been designed to facilitate the understanding of the spatial change that occurred during this unique period of history. In this paper a methodology has been investigated and implemented in the design of the map, by enhancing the map reader’s experience in visualising time series spatial data. We conclude further that visual intention and attention are cognitive facets that collectively strengthen the map reader’s ability in learning spatial information.
Exploring geovisualization, 2005
In dynamic geographic information and visualization systems, the ways in which a user is allowed to manipulate the map and the data represented (through various interaction capabilities) are just as important as the ways the data are presented (as marks on the screen). This chapter describes strategies that will help cartographers design geovisualization interfaces and environments. We present a framework, informed by cognitive science, for designing and developing modes of interaction for use in geovisualization environments. We also review some applications of that framework in the context of representing the temporal component of geographic data. Consideration of some of the same factors that guided us in these applications may assist not only other geovisualization developers in the creation of tools but also geovisualization users in understanding the limitations and opportunities presented by the tools they are using.
Once Upon a Time in a Land Far Away: Guidelines for Spatio-Temporal Narrative Visualization
Creating a visualization that conveys a narrative requires choosing the dimensions and features that help tell the story. Time and space are two of these storytelling attributes which are commonly present in the story's structure. Thus, these should be considered in the creation process. Narrative Visualiza-tion is still a new field in Information Visualization research, and while there are guidelines for designing visualizations, specific ones for this new area are still lacking. Therefore, supported by previous research on broad recommendations for designing visualizations, we propose a specific set of guidelines to structure effective visual narratives divided into four decision categories: Intent, Spatio-temporal, Interaction, and Narrative Elements.
Towards exploratory visualization of spatio-temporal data
2000
In the paper we focus on the problem of supporting visual exploration of data having spatial and temporal reference. We suggest some methods and tools based on cartographic visualization of the data. The tools involve a dynamic, highly interactive map display that can change its properties in real time, in particular, perform animation. We seek to advance our tools beyond mere animation towards facilitating exploratory analysis of spatio-temporal data. We diversify our approaches depending on properties of data and the character of their variation in time: changing existence, position, values of thematic attributes etc.