A Cartographic Approach to Spatio-temporal Data Visualization of Events in Visual Analytics Applications
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Rühl, A.; 2Gartner, G.; 3Peuquet, D.
1VIENNA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Email: alice.ruehl@gmx.de
2VIENNA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Email: georg.gartner@tuwien.ac.at
3THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY Email: peuquet@psu.edu
Abstract
The increasing importance of Visual Analytics calls for greater attention to maps in analytic tools and applications. It is well known that maps provide a familiar, understandable interface to underlying data, an advantage that is not enough considered in the field of Visual Analytics. To advance the design and usage of maps, this study explores the development of map components within coordinated multi-view applications using multivariate and zoom-level dependent representations of news event data. Integrated in the system with a timeline, a word cloud and other view components, traditional ‘rules’ of cartography are considered, as well as aspects of human-computer interaction and interactive design research. This allows users to efficiently explore complex spatio- temporal data, interactively creating new hypotheses and insight. Our approach was validated by re-developing the mapping component inside STempo, a project developed at the GeoVISTA Center, Pennsylvania State University. Starting from the analysis of the use and user of the application and considering the available technologies, as a first step towards improvement a basemap was created to support the data visualization methods. The data visualization itself is based on well-known graphic variables, utilized to create a meaningful representation. Challenged by the heterogeneity of the web-scraped news event data, the cartographic methods aim to reduce clutter and visual load, aggregating the data based on location and attributes. The visualized data is iteratively filtered and reduced using the other components of the system or the map component itself. A qualitative user evaluation showed that the application of cartographic precepts aided in the development of more useful visual analytic mapping tools.
Keywords
visual analytics; geodesign; user interface