Visualization of alternative future scenarios for forest ecosystems using animated statistical surfaces

• Published in: 2013 Second International Conference on Agro-Geoinformatics (Agro-Geoinformatics) pp. 512 - 516
• Main Authors: Jenny, H., Liem, J., Lucash, M. S., Scheller, R. M.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-08-2013
• Subjects: 3D visualization; animated maps; Animation; Biological system modeling; Data visualization; Ecosystems; forest ecosystems; geo-visual analytics; GIScience; LANDIS-II; Prototypes; Three-dimensional displays; Visualization
• DOI: 10.1109/Argo-Geoinformatics.2013.6621974

Rising uncertainties associated with climate change make it important to include forest ecosystem simulations into forest management planning. The output of such models can be visualized in two-dimensional time-series animation, which is often too complex to provide a spatio-temporal overview. This contribution describes a novel method, called animated three-dimensional statistical surfaces, that aims at improving the perception of change in animated time-series. The method visualizes attribute values as surfaces, which are interpolated and animated over time; the attribute surfaces are combined with color-coding and contour lines to support absolute and relative height judgment as well as faster perception and better location of change. A design study and prototypical implementation of the visualization method is described in this contribution. The method is not limited to ecological model output; it can be used to create three-dimensional animations of arbitrary time-series where parameters are supplied in regular raster format.