INFORMATION PRESENTATION AND VISUALISATION

INFORMATION PRESENTATION
AND VISUALISATION

INTRODUCTION
THE NATURE OF COMPLEXITY
DIGITAL TERRAIN MODELS

INTRODUCTION

The Problem of Cognitive Overload
Decision-makers face problems of cognitive overload that may lead to diminishing quality in decision-making. This occurs increasingly in circumstances that require assimilation of increasing amounts of detail in decreasing amounts of time.

The Role of Visualisation
The idea that a picture is worth a thousand words recognises advantages in pictorial presentation compared with oral and written description in communicating some kinds of information. Visualisation techniques aim to improve assimilation of information by the human brain to alleviate some of these problems of cognition in increasingly complex yet important decision-making

Application of Visualisation Techniques
Visualisation techniques are appropriate wherever pictures, models and other graphical representation eases the burden of description, communication and understanding.

Applications in Decision Making
Development proposals usually require decisions from

References:

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) - Home > Environment and Natural Resources > Land Use Change Project - Forestry Project - Risk Modeling and Society Project -

THE NATURE OF COMPLEXITY

The Problem of Communicating Complex Information
Much depends on the abilities to describe and interpret relevant information. Relevant information is information likely to make a difference to outcomes.

	'd-complexity' - or difficulty in describing the status and changes to systems using words or numbers - as in human movement studies,
	'i-complexity' - or interpretation complexity

The ability to interpret written and pictorial representations often entails .

Understanding written material may depend on prior understanding of language and concepts. Understanding pictorial representations may depend on acquired skills in interpretation such as in X-ray, various medical imaging techniques, aerial photography and remote sensing imagery.

Charles Sturt University, > Home > Complexity Online

VISUALISATION OF THE NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT

DIGITAL TERRAIN MODELS

Essential Elements of a Digital Terrain Model
The essential elements of a digital terrain model are three dimensional coordinates of points on the terrain together with some descriptors to indicate the nature of the points identified in the model. The three dimensional coordinates usually refer to the x and y measurements in a horizontal reference plane and the z or height measurements perpendicular to the horizontal reference plane.

Contours
Digital terrain models show 'contours' or lines of equal height. This involves interpolation between the points that make up the terrain model to trace lines having the same z coordinate.

Static Perspective Representations of Digital Terrain Model
An observer's view of a digital terrain model is a perspective projection with rays passing through the eye of the observer onto a picture plane. This is similar to the same way that a camera focuses light through a camera lens onto a plane of sensitised film. Specifying the location and orientation of the camera involves six degrees of freedom, namely:

	the x, y and z coordinates of the focal point, and
	the respective rotations about the x, y and z axes.

This specification allows computation from digital terrain model of three dimensions into a perspective projection of two dimensions.

Dynamic Representations of Digital Terrain Models
One form of dynamic representation occurs through changing the camera position, orientation or both position and orientation to allow a series of perspective projections or 'pictures' to emulate a moving picture. Examples include 'walk-through', 'drive-through' and 'fly-through' emulations of moving pictures. As such they can represent powerful tools for presenting information regarding development proposals for stakeholders and decision makers.

References:

DATA FORMATS

The various sources of information and formats in which data is held can create constraints in presentation and visualisation methods. Data stemming from models of the environment can occupy many forms. Raw data such as census findings, terrain elevations or project-centred datasets make up a large proportion of the available information. Spreadsheet data, graphical displays and virtual environments are also common data resources. originating from many different professional spheres, data is often captured by such varied methods as a field survey, mathematical modeling, emission readings, site analysis etc.

METADATA ISSUES

Metadata: Metropolitan Urban Service Areas and Local Urban Service Areas | Metadata for the Metropolitan Urban Service Areas and Local Urban Service Areas Developed by Metropolitan Council | Tapahtumakalenteri - The 21st Urban Data Management Symposium |

Andrzej Bargiela, Strategic Directions in Simulation and Modelling, (paper invited by the Conference of Professors and Heads of Computing as a contribution to the UK Computing Research Strategy CPHC Meeting, Manchester, 6-7 January 2000)

JoAnna Ruth Wherrett, Macauly Land Use Research Institute, JoAnna Wherrett's Research Page, 'Scenic Landscape Evaluation: Combining Visualisation and Predictive Preference Modelling'

Adelaide University, School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design, Urban Implications: modelling, simulation, visualisation and interpretation in urban places

University of Queensland, Advanced Computational Modelling Centre (ACMC) - Home Page - Research -

Cardiff University, Department of City and Regional Planning, Chris Webster, Fulong Wu and Sheng Zhou, An object-based urban simulation model for interactive visualisation

UK Research Councils, Long Term Technology Review of the Science & Engineering Base - Home Page - Table of Contents, Chapter 8, Modelling and Simulation

The Grand Challenge - Environmental Modeling project is a joint project between the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University and the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A Distributed Computing Approach to Large-Scale Environmental Modeling

The Baskin Center of the University of California, Santa Cruz, in cooperation with meteorological and oceanographic scientists of the Monterey Bay region from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), is creating a real-time system for data acquisition, data management, and visualization. The Real-time Environmental Information Network and Analysis System (REINAS) is a distributed measurement-gathering environment built around one or more relational database systems and supporting both real-time and retrospective regional scale environmental science. Continuous real-time data is acquired from dispersed sensors and input to a logically integrated but physically distributed database. An integrated problem-solving environment supports visualization and modeling by users requiring insight into historical, current, and predicted oceanographic and meteorological conditions. REINAS supports both collaborative and single-user scientific work in a distributed environment.

The Geographic Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS) framework consists of five components, the User Interface provides a consistent interface to all the system capabilities. The Execution component provides control over air quality model calculations - the user may choose from several different scientific models and the diverse computational platforms available. The Visualization component provides advanced capabilities for viewing the data output from the air quality model calculations. The Data Management component manages the data produced and consumed by all components of the system. The Monitoring component provide capabilities for tracking performance and faults in the distributed system on which all the components operate.

The Apaola Project

Scientific Visualization of Complex Data Sets - the UC Berkeley WELD project -

Susanne Lange, Heidrun Schumann, Detlef Kr�mker, Wolfgang M�ller, Problem-oriented visualization of multi-dimensional data sets, International Symposium on Scientific Visualization, Cagliari, September 27-29 1995

What Is Data Visualization

Advanced Computational Modelling Centre (ACMC),

Remote Sensing Related stories: Landsat 7 begins viewing the world - Team probes Atlanta heat island - Korea, Australia to share environment satellite - U.S. imaging satellite set for launch - Related sites: Multispec - David A. Landgrebe - Landsat 7

Educational software developed at Northwestern University - Funded by the National Science Foundation, the WorldWatcher Curriculum transforms scientific visualization into an effective educational technology. Related stories: Students step into Darwin's shoes - Harvest of Shame - Computers bring ocean depths to classrooms - NASA technology, space data comes to classrooms - Web to link U.S. and Amazon classrooms - Related sites: The WorldWatcher Project - Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools
An arsenal of satellite-based visualization tools developed at the University of Wisconsin at Madison is helping forecasters improve early-warning systems for tropical storms. The tools are giving forecasters a detailed look at the anatomy of typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes, allowing them to break down the components of tropical storms and dissect some of the forces that create, steer and fuel these frequently dangerous weather phenomena.

URBAN INFORMATION AND VISUALISATION