Why not both?  – Combining 2D maps and 3D space-time cubes for human trajectory data visualization

Throughout the years, researchers have tried to understand dynamics and general patterns associated with human movement, e.g. in the context of urban planning, to improve the lives of citizens. To do this, it is necessary to properly analyse the spatio-temporal and the thematic properties of their trajectory data. Thematic maps, particularly 2D maps and 3D space-time cubes (STCs), are among the most common approaches to analyse and visualize these data. Previous research attests to the usefulness of these visualization techniques in different types of tasks. However, it is unlikely that the analysis of trajectories will be always limited to a specific type of task, thus, motivating additional studies to evaluate the dis/advantages of combining both techniques, within the same view/interaction context. In this paper, we address this specific challenge, by presenting a comparative study between three prototypes, one using a 2D map, one using a STC, and one combining both techniques, for the visualization of trajectories. Our results support previous studies’ conclusions, by showing the advantages of 2D maps and STCs for spatial and spatio-temporal tasks, respectively. They also point out towards the advantages of using both techniques together, as users seem to prefer this alternative and are able to complete different types of tasks accurately, despite the increasing complexity of the visualization.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Tiago Gonçalves

Ana Paula Afonso

Bruno Martins

Conference

Publication date: July 2016

Publication date (Print): July 2016

Pages: 1-10

Affiliations

[1 ] LaSIGE, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

[2 ] INESC-ID, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2016.22

SO-VID: e9f86ccc-9627-47fa-b97e-9645cb1d5fe9

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of the 30th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference

Conference acronym: HCI

Conference number: 30

Conference location: Bournemouth University, Poole, UK

Conference date: 11 - 15 July 2016

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Fusion

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2016.22

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

F. AminiS. RufiangeZ. HossainQ. VenturaP. IraniM. McGuffin 2015 The impact of interactivity on comprehending 2d and 3d visualizations of movement data IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 21 1 122 135
G. AndrienkoN. AndrienkoP. BakD. KeimS. KisilevichS. Wrobel 2011 A conceptual framework and taxonomy of techniques for analyzing movement Journal of Visual Languages and Computing 22 3 213 232
G. AndrienkoN. AndrienkoU. DemsarD. DranschJ. DykesS. I. FabrikantM. JernM.-J. KraakH. SchumannC. Tominski 2010 Space, time and visual analytics International Journal of Geographical Information Science 24 10 1577 1600
N. AndrienkoG. Andrienko 2013 Visual analytics of movement: a rich palette of techniques to enable understanding chapter 9 1 27 Cambridge University Press
N. AndrienkoG. AndrienkoP. BakD. KeimW. Stefan 2013 Visual Analytics of Movement Springer 1st
J. Bertin 1967 Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, Networks, Maps University of Wisconsin Press
J. BookerT. BuennemeyerA. SabriC. North 2007 High-resolution displays enhancing geotemporal data visualizations Proceedings of the 45th Annual Southeast Regional Conference 443 448
U. DemsarK. Virrantaus 2010 Space-time density of trajectories: exploring spatio-temporal patterns in movement data International Journal of Geographical Information Science 24 10 1527 1542
T. GoncalvesA. P. AfonsoB. Martins 2014 Visualizing human trajectories: Comparing space-time cubes and static maps Proceedings of 28th British BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference HCI 2014 - Sand, Sea and Sky - Holiday HCI 207 212
T. GonçalvesA. P. AfonsoB. Martins 2015 Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2015:15th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Bamberg, Germany, September 14-18, 2015, Proceedings, Part IV chapter Improving Spatial Awareness for Human Trajectory Visualization in Space-Time Cubes 327 334
T. GonçalvesA. P. AfonsoB. MartinsD. Gonçalves 2013 ST-TrajVis: Interacting with trajectory data Proceedings of the 27th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference 48:1 48:6
T Hägerstrand 1970 What about people in regional science? Papers of the Regional Science Association 24 1 6 21
M. S. JohnM. B. CowenH. S. SmallmanH. M. Oonk 2001 The use of 2D and 3D displays for shape-understanding versus relative-position tasks Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 43 1 79 98
F. C. KesslerT A. Slocum 2011 Analysis of thematic maps published in two geographical journals in the twentieth century Annals of the Association of America Geographers 101 2 292 317
A. KjellinL. W. PetterssonS. SeipelM. Lind 2010 Evaluating 2D and 3D visualizations of spatiotemporal information ACM Transactions on Applield Perception 7 3 19:1 19:23
M. J. Kraak 2003 The space-time cube revisited from a geovisualization perspective Proceedings of the 21st International Cartographic Conference 1988 1995
M.-J. Kraak 2008 Geovisualization and time - new opportunities for the space-time cube M. DodgeM. McDerbyM. Turner Geographic Visualization Concepts, Tools and Applications chapter 15 294 306 Wiley
M.-J. KraakF. Ormeling 2010 Cartography Visualization of Spatial Data Pearson Education 3rd
I. KveladzeM.-J. KraakC. P. J. M. Van Elzakker 2015 The space-time cube as part of a geovisual analytics environment to support the understanding of movement data International Journal of Geographical Information Science 29 11 2001 2016
W.-C. LeeJ. Krumm 2011 Trajectory preprocessing Y ZhengX. Zhou Computing with Spatial Trajectories chapter 1 3 33 Springer
R. E. Roth 2012 Cartographic interaction primitives: Framework and synthesis The Cartographic Journal 49 4 376 395
R. E. Roth 2013 Cartographic interaction: What we know and what we need to know Journal of Spatial Information Science 6 59 115
R. ScheepensN. WillemsH. van de WeteringJ. van Wijk 2012 Interactive density maps for moving objects Computer Graphics and Applications IEEE 32 1 56 66
R. ScheepensN. WillemsH. van de WeteringJ. J. van Wijk 2011 Interactive visualization of multivariate trajectory data with density maps Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE Pacific Visualization Symposium 147 154
S. Seipel 2013 Evaluating 2d and 3d geovisualisations for basic spatial assessment Behaviour & Information Technology 32 8 845 858
S. ThakurA. Hanson 2010 A 3D visualization of multiple time series on maps Proceedings of the 14th International Conference Information Visualisation 336 343
C. TominskiP. Schulze-WollgastH. Schumann 2005 3d information visualization for time dependent data on maps Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Information Visualisation 175 181
C. TominskiH. SchumannG. AndrienkoN. Andrienko 2012 Stacking-based visualization of trajectory attribute data IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 18 12 2565 2574
N. WillemsH. van de WeteringJ. J. van Wijk 2011 Evaluation of the visibility of vessel movement features in trajectory visualizations Computer Graphics Forum 801 810

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] F. AminiS. RufiangeZ. HossainQ. VenturaP. IraniM. McGuffin 2015 The impact of interactivity on comprehending 2d and 3d visualizations of movement data IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 21 1 122 135

[2] G. AndrienkoN. AndrienkoP. BakD. KeimS. KisilevichS. Wrobel 2011 A conceptual framework and taxonomy of techniques for analyzing movement Journal of Visual Languages and Computing 22 3 213 232

[3] G. AndrienkoN. AndrienkoU. DemsarD. DranschJ. DykesS. I. FabrikantM. JernM.-J. KraakH. SchumannC. Tominski 2010 Space, time and visual analytics International Journal of Geographical Information Science 24 10 1577 1600

[4] N. AndrienkoG. Andrienko 2013 Visual analytics of movement: a rich palette of techniques to enable understanding chapter 9 1 27 Cambridge University Press

[5] N. AndrienkoG. AndrienkoP. BakD. KeimW. Stefan 2013 Visual Analytics of Movement Springer 1st

[6] J. Bertin 1967 Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, Networks, Maps University of Wisconsin Press

[7] J. BookerT. BuennemeyerA. SabriC. North 2007 High-resolution displays enhancing geotemporal data visualizations Proceedings of the 45th Annual Southeast Regional Conference 443 448

[8] U. DemsarK. Virrantaus 2010 Space-time density of trajectories: exploring spatio-temporal patterns in movement data International Journal of Geographical Information Science 24 10 1527 1542

[9] T. GoncalvesA. P. AfonsoB. Martins 2014 Visualizing human trajectories: Comparing space-time cubes and static maps Proceedings of 28th British BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference HCI 2014 - Sand, Sea and Sky - Holiday HCI 207 212

[10] T. GonçalvesA. P. AfonsoB. Martins 2015 Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2015:15th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Bamberg, Germany, September 14-18, 2015, Proceedings, Part IV chapter Improving Spatial Awareness for Human Trajectory Visualization in Space-Time Cubes 327 334

[11] T. GonçalvesA. P. AfonsoB. MartinsD. Gonçalves 2013 ST-TrajVis: Interacting with trajectory data Proceedings of the 27th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference 48:1 48:6

[12] T Hägerstrand 1970 What about people in regional science? Papers of the Regional Science Association 24 1 6 21

[13] M. S. JohnM. B. CowenH. S. SmallmanH. M. Oonk 2001 The use of 2D and 3D displays for shape-understanding versus relative-position tasks Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 43 1 79 98

[14] F. C. KesslerT A. Slocum 2011 Analysis of thematic maps published in two geographical journals in the twentieth century Annals of the Association of America Geographers 101 2 292 317

[15] A. KjellinL. W. PetterssonS. SeipelM. Lind 2010 Evaluating 2D and 3D visualizations of spatiotemporal information ACM Transactions on Applield Perception 7 3 19:1 19:23

[16] M. J. Kraak 2003 The space-time cube revisited from a geovisualization perspective Proceedings of the 21st International Cartographic Conference 1988 1995

[17] M.-J. Kraak 2008 Geovisualization and time - new opportunities for the space-time cube M. DodgeM. McDerbyM. Turner Geographic Visualization Concepts, Tools and Applications chapter 15 294 306 Wiley

[18] M.-J. KraakF. Ormeling 2010 Cartography Visualization of Spatial Data Pearson Education 3rd

[19] I. KveladzeM.-J. KraakC. P. J. M. Van Elzakker 2015 The space-time cube as part of a geovisual analytics environment to support the understanding of movement data International Journal of Geographical Information Science 29 11 2001 2016

[20] W.-C. LeeJ. Krumm 2011 Trajectory preprocessing Y ZhengX. Zhou Computing with Spatial Trajectories chapter 1 3 33 Springer

[21] R. E. Roth 2012 Cartographic interaction primitives: Framework and synthesis The Cartographic Journal 49 4 376 395

[22] R. E. Roth 2013 Cartographic interaction: What we know and what we need to know Journal of Spatial Information Science 6 59 115

[23] R. ScheepensN. WillemsH. van de WeteringJ. van Wijk 2012 Interactive density maps for moving objects Computer Graphics and Applications IEEE 32 1 56 66

[24] R. ScheepensN. WillemsH. van de WeteringJ. J. van Wijk 2011 Interactive visualization of multivariate trajectory data with density maps Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE Pacific Visualization Symposium 147 154

[25] S. Seipel 2013 Evaluating 2d and 3d geovisualisations for basic spatial assessment Behaviour & Information Technology 32 8 845 858

[26] S. ThakurA. Hanson 2010 A 3D visualization of multiple time series on maps Proceedings of the 14th International Conference Information Visualisation 336 343

[27] C. TominskiP. Schulze-WollgastH. Schumann 2005 3d information visualization for time dependent data on maps Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Information Visualisation 175 181

[28] C. TominskiH. SchumannG. AndrienkoN. Andrienko 2012 Stacking-based visualization of trajectory attribute data IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 18 12 2565 2574

[29] N. WillemsH. van de WeteringJ. J. van Wijk 2011 Evaluation of the visibility of vessel movement features in trajectory visualizations Computer Graphics Forum 801 810

Celebrating 65 years of The Computer Journal - free-to-read perspectives - bcs.org/tcj65

Why not both? – Combining 2D maps and 3D space-time cubes for human trajectory data visualization