Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The use of dense pixel visualization for the representation of abstract data is an area of
research that certainly has potential. It permits large amounts of data to be displayed and
creates a holistic view of the information. However, such techniques are currently underused
in geovisualization.
Finally, there are certainly challenges with incorporating non-existent or erroneous data
into a geovisualization system, although there are clear benefits to incorporating such data.
Some work has been achieved in visualizing
uncertain information
, but researchers who
initially store the data need to save and appropriately mark up the information, and system
developers need to integrate uncertainty concepts throughout the whole system, such that
uncertainty is a principal component of the system.
3.3 Informative visualizations
The canonical form for geographical display is certainly the map. However, there are many
different types of visualization that are used in geovisualizations. In multiview exploratory
systems these additional (non-map-based) realizations are often used alongside the map
display; all user controls and operations may be associated with any or all of the views to
provide a powerful exploratory environment. In this section we discuss various terminolo-
gies and implications of multiple views; we review a variety of display forms that are used
in geovisualization and consider representation and re-representation methodologies. The
forms detailed within this section are not meant to form a comprehensive review, but are
intended to give the reader an understanding of the breadth of techniques that are cur-
rently available. Indeed, this topic and others, such as
Exploring GeoVisualization
(Dykes,
MacEachren and Kraak, 2005), provide many more examples of geovisualization forms.
3.3.1 Multiple views
The term
multiple-views
is all-encompassing; it includes any system which allows direct
visual comparison of multiple windows, including visualizations from different display
parameters. It usually implies that the visualizations are viewed in a desktop windows
environment. However, researchers have also used the term to describe various tile-based
displays. There are three further implications. The first is that the operations are coordinated
and that any operation is linked with any other view, hence the more specific term of
multiple
coordinated views
may be used. The second is that the user can instantiate any number of
views that they require. The third is that the views are encapsulated in their own window. By
having these multiple representations encapsulated in separate windows, the user can easily
compare two (or more) representations side-by-side. In fact, there are many examples of
developers utilizing
dual-views
(Convertino
et al
., 2003) to allow the user to compare the
information side-by-side.
The term
multiform
on the other hand is specific (Roberts, 2000). It describes how the
information can be displayed using different types of representation. For example, one view
may show the information as a map, while another window shows the information in a
table. In this example, the user can select regions on the map and display the statistical
information in the associated table. The environment may also allow the user to investigate
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