Overview

Teaching: 5 min
Exercises: 0 min

Questions

• What is data visualization, really?

• What are the roles of visualization in the geospatial data analysis pipeline?

Objectives

• Develop an understanding of the value of learning data visualization tools.

• Develop an understanding of the role of data viz in the geospatial researcher’s data pipeline.

What is Visualization? (stolen shamelessly from Dr. Jeffrey Heer’s course slides)

• “Transformation of the symbolic into the geometric” [McCormick et al. 1987]
• “… finding the artificial memory that best supports our natural means of perception.” [Bertin 1967]
• “The use of computer-generated, interactive, visual representations of data to amplify cognition.” [Card, Mackinlay, & Shneiderman 1999]

Why Visualization?

• Answer questions (or discover them)
• Make decisions
• See data in context
• Expand memory
• Support graphical calculation
• Find patterns
• Present argument or tell a story
• Inspire

Coal Exports, 1864. Charles Minard

Napoleon’s 1812 Russian campaign, Charles Minard (1869)

Key Points

• Visualizing data augments human cognition and, if done right, can lead to richer understanding of the available data.

• Cartographic visualizations (maps) can draw significant insights from spatial data.

• Data visualization is a tool to assist several steps of the researcher’s pipeline, from initial data exploration to communication of final results.

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