Benno Schmidt

Visual exploration of high-dimensional spatial data: requirements and deficits

Abstract Suitable tools are needed to explore high-dimensional data spaces and to gain insight into the underlying geoprocesses. Especially interactive, computer-generated representations enrich our perception, so that complex phenomena can be comprehended intuitively. Although several helpful visualization techniques are available today, there is a growing demand for more advanced tools and strategies. The latter must ensure that techniques appropriate for the nature of data and suitable for the objectives are applied throughout the whole data exploration process. This paper outlines the deficits of existing software and requirements for future visualization environments, focusing on the exploration branch in geoscientific visualization.

Managing, Modeling, and Visualizing High-dimensional Spatio-temporal Data in an Integrated System

An approach to an interoperable object-oriented GIS-framework for atmospheric modeling (AtmoGIS), which can be used to implement integrated information systems, is presented. The consideration of user-workflows leads to the specification of the projected system. Using an object-oriented approach, the system is based on a spatio-temporal database management system, a mesoscale model and an environment for scientific visualization.

3d visualisation in spatial data infrastructures

3d visualisation of real spaces in the Internet is nowadays getting ready for all day usage. Because of higher complexity of 3d- compared to 2d visualisation, it is mostly used for high-end visualisations. The strategy of integrating them into existing spatial data infrastructures and making reuse of existing resources that are so far mostly used for 2d visualisation, created the opportunity to build 3d web-applications as an add-on. The recurring problems of web-based 3d visualisation raised the question, how special modules for 3d visualisation could also be made reuseable. We took a closer look especially on the so-called mapping-level, which is essential for the type of visualisation, interactivity and some special analysis-tasks.

Towards Synchronizing Data Sources and Information Visualization in Virtual Research Environments

There are many systems that visualize abstract data in the context of Information Visualization (IVIS). However, most systems create unidirectional visualizations that represent a static product of the source data. Possible changes to the content of the visualization – if that is possible at all – are not reflected to the data sources. This paper recommends a theoretical approach to use modern Web technologies and state-of-the-art system architectures to conceptualize a synchronization-enabled Web-based 3D IVIS infrastructure. Within applications built on top of this infrastructure, clients are able to modify data properties within three-dimensional real-time visualizations. In consequence, these content modifications are automatically transmitted to the server-side data sources for persistence. Moreover, relevant content changes on the server side are broadcast to all registered clients to maintain a permanent consistent state between data sources and derived IVIS-products. Particularly, a Mediator-Wrapper architecture is used in order to semantically integrate heterogeneous data sources in Big Data scenarios. Note that this paper presents a theoretical approach and that validation and evaluation are future tasks.