The 21st century has been characterized as the digital age for one simple reason. It is because of the rate of how information is produced and consumed by our society which has been unparalleled for the past decades. In an article published two years ago, big data experts even stipulated that ninety percent of the data in our world has been generated only in the last two years (Forbes, 2018). And this is true with spatial data as well. Given this amount of data that we have, how will we know which one we need, and which one we do not? Which ones are useful, and which ones are just nuisances? This is where geovisualization comes in.
Geovisualization is a relatively new field that combines a variety of perspectives from different fields like cartography, image analysis, and exploratory data analysis to name a few, to develop techniques and procedures that will be beneficial in the presentation of spatial data (Dykes, Maceachren, & Kraak, 2005). While the emphasis is on the manipulation and presentation of spatial data, geovisualization is also concern with the development and interaction among the different disciplines that constitute it. For instance, charts and paper maps have been the most popular form of geovisualization until GIS became accessible to a wide range of users, especially to the public domain in the form of the free and open-source ones. Today, maps are not only found in atlases but have also evolved into dynamically enabled, integrated media like web applications that are more accessible and can be easily shared with everyone.
When the idea of design is incorporated into geovisualization, one of the first things that come to my mind is the discipline of communication design. While this term is used synonymously with graphic design oftentimes, communication design is a much broader field that deals with how different types of media (printed, electronic, crafted, etc.) communicate with people. More than the aesthetics or presenting information in a visually appealing manner, communication design aims at the delivery of information to its target audience. And this is also one of the crucial aspects that geovisualization struggles to achieve given the amount of available potential spatial data that can be harnessed and presented into spatial information. Put simply, geovisualization design can be described as a systematic approach to spatial data presentation and effective information communication.
Being an encompassing field, the contents of geovisualization design can range to several related topics as well. However, I think that these contents can be categorized into two general ideas, representation, and usability issues.
The method on how we present spatial phenomenon does not only depends on the purpose or objective that we want to convey to our audience but also on the complexity of the spatial data involved that we used in the first place. Choropleth maps have been the staple type of thematic maps that we usually see nowadays when it comes to spatial data presentation especially for showing statistics and numerical values related to a specific location. Geographic infographics are also becoming popular especially from the domain of graphic design. However, as the purpose and data become more and more complex, the presentation of this information can also change. For instance, the emergence of a 3D approach can also be observed in the presentation of multivariate spatial datasets with spatiotemporal attributes. In a more advanced application, immersive environments such as virtual and augmented realities are also being used in geovisualization, more specifically for those applications that need a high level of interactivity with their intended audience. These and many other topics such as map animation, dynamic object behaviors, multi-modal interfaces, can be categorized into the representation aspect of geovisualization design.
On the other hand, we must also realize that to improve the field of geovisualization, these visualization techniques must be tested and evaluated as well. And this concerns the usability issues in geovisualization design. For instance, in visualizing the distribution or the rate of change of a certain phenomenon, a dynamic time series may be deemed more effective rather than a set of static maps. Or a 3D map of a terrain with hillshade and lighting effects may be more useful than the good old topographic to visualize high and low altitude areas in a map. But we cannot conclude this unless they are subjected to a certain type of systematic user testing. And fortunately, this aspect has benefited in technological advancement as well. A more objective approach in tackling cognitive issues in geovisualization design can now be carried out for instance with eye-tracking technologies. These studies when incorporated in certain user types, gender, age, culture, etc., can be beneficial in establishing best practices in geovisualization design.
In the advent of big data in the field of geoinformation sciences, I hope that more studies and applications of geovisualization in this field also flourish. With the amount of Earth Observation data captured every day, it would be interesting to see a development in the visualization of these multidimensional data as well.
While the demand for authoritative geographic information continues to increase, the role of geovisualization is also becoming more evident in the information use. Furthermore, the importance of design in the geovisualization process revolves mainly around the effective communication of spatial data, especially the complex kinds. As we generate more and more of these spatial data, it is also important that we establish a knowledge base on how spatial data can be presented accurately and consumed by society.
Dykes, J., Maceachren, A., & Kraak, M.-J. (2005). Exploring Geovisualization.
Forbes. (2018). How Much Data Do We Create EveryDay? The Mind-Blowing Stats Everyone Should Read. Retrieved from Forbes:https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/05/21/how-much-data-do-we-create-every-day-the-mind-blowing-stats-everyone-should-read/?sh=4cc4b2ab60ba
