Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
1 Introduction
The communication to end-users of data that varies across space and time is a
constant issue which confronts scientists working with dynamic spatial processes.
The communication of climate change information to local and regional agricul-
ture industry stakeholders is particularly difficult for variety of reasons. Climate
change projections are typically forecast far in the future (e.g., year 2100) and at a
very broad spatial resolution, such as 50 km 2 for a global circulation model
(GCM). Such broad scale spatial modeling outputs lack relevance to local stake-
holders and the climate impact is usually described in ways that are very difficult
for local stakeholders to translate into on-the-ground consequences. What, for
example, does a 2 C increase in average temperature mean for a dairy farmer?
The Victorian Climate Change Adaptation Program (VCCAP) is a
multi-disciplinary research program that has generated and collected a large
amount of scientific information relative to climate change projections, impact and
potential adaptation options for South West Victoria, Australia. The aim of the
program was to increase the knowledge and capabilities of stakeholders across the
spectrum from policy maker to farmer to prepare and adapt to climate change and to
minimize associated socioeconomic and environmental impacts and risks. To assist
with the delivery of VCCAP research findings, the Victorian Department of
Primary Industries (DPI) VCCAP visualisation team investigated the use of dif-
ferent data visualisation methods to convey a meaningful message to community
and government.
This paper describes a set of representations and tools developed to improve the
communicability and accessibility of spatio-temporal datasets to stakeholders. We
explored the use of various types of data visualisation (ranging from direct display
of tabular and graph data to maps, animation and more realistic 3D data repre-
sentation), brought together through a digital globe interface. The Google Earth
digital globe has been used as a development platform as it incorporates high
resolution satellite imagery and terrain data and allows easy navigation across
multiple levels of resolution. As previously reported, the Google Earth platform
has successfully been used to communicate climate change research outputs both
in Australia (Pettit et al. 2010 ) and Canada (Schroth et al. 2009 ). The digital globe
platform provided a suitable interactive and user-friendly environment to visually
explore and interact with scientific spatial datasets. A number of data visualisation
methods have been applied to communicate climate change data relative to a
specific research and demonstration dairy farm in south-western Victoria known as
Demo Dairy. Visualisation options were evaluated by a group of local stakeholders
which included farmers and catchment managers.
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