René Sieber

The Atlas of Switzerland as an Interactive Multimedia Atlas Information System

The idea to establish nation-wide thematic atlases for scientific and political purposes has been discussed in the geographic community since the beginning of this century. It was only in the late fifties that Salishchev and Lehmann developed a concept under the auspices of the Commission on National Atlases of the International Geographical Union, which served as a base for several national atlases in Europe (Ormeling 1994). It follows geographical, nation-oriented guidelines using a defined sequence of descriptive thematic maps.

The Next Generation of Atlas User Interfaces: A User Study with “Digital Natives”

Atlases are one of the most complex geovisualization environments as they are very information-rich. Within these environments, a well-designed user interface is essential to explore the variety of atlas maps and media. Involving technology-affine digital natives in the interface design process seems self-evident to provide appealing and intuitively usable atlases in the future. In our study, we presented secondary school students (n = 110, age 14–15 years) with five graphical user interface (GUI) mock-ups varying in layout density and tool arrangement. Each alternative design embodies a GUI concept inspired by an existing Web atlas or a popular website. The students have completed five tasks in these atlas interfaces that represent typical use cases for thematic navigation, spatial orientation and information queries. We collected performance and preference metrics for each layout, i.e., the time to solve a task (efficiency), whether students found the correct answers (effectiveness), and their ratings of each layout for “attractiveness”. To complete the analysis, we also conducted a mouse click analysis. Results indicate that atlas interfaces with a medium layout density are strongly preferred by the tested participants, and through inferential statistics, by digital natives in general. These medium density layouts also perform significantly better; i.e., they have lower average times, lower number of clicks and a higher percentage of successfully completed tasks. Based on the interpretation of the results of this study, general and practical guidelines for future atlas user interfaces are derived.

Concepts and techniques of an online 3d atlas --- challenges in cartographic 3d geovisualization

During the last two decades numerous interactive atlas and mapping systems have been developed, offering a variety of mainly statistical 2d map types like choropleths, point symbols and diagrams but scarcely also some 3d map types like panoramic views and block diagrams. These systems include a bundle of atlas functionality for spatial and temporal navigation, map visualization, and layer handling. Today, atlas systems have to compete with a multiplicity of freely available map services, geoportals and virtual globes; thus, atlases have to strive for new horizons. At the same time, the big popularity of geodata and geo-applications is offering a unique chance to digital atlas products in order to activate new user groups and to animate them for collaboration. Results of a detailed survey on current products of geovisualization are pointing out that the majority of up-to-dates applications is originally dedicated and conceived for web and mobile use. The attractiveness of such applications is primary based on the immediate benefit in everyday life, on the up-to-dateness of the data offered, and on their integrative possibilities. In addition, applications using 3d concepts and virtual globes are persuading users by their intuitive navigation and spatial clarity. However, these applications are rather heterogeneous concerning content handling and cartographic quality. Therefore, the main challenge for future digital atlases will be to merge the big trends of 3d mapping, online and mobile applications with cartographic design and atlas-specific functionality. Research and development should focus on cartographic 3d visualization and interactivity for different user groups and applications. The Swiss Atlas Platform (APS) project, launched in 2011, is dealing with these aspects of online 3d cartography in order to set up a basic 3d atlas configuration. Based on this APS, the new product line of Atlas of Switzerland and affiliated atlases will be developed. During the first project phase, the concept of a 3d atlas platform has been defined, having the potential to realize a unique combination of interactive thematic cartography and 3d atlas technology. From the point of view of system design, the Swiss Atlas Platform consists of extensible modules for spatial navigation, map visualization and information retrieval, unified under a flexible graphical user interface. These modules contain a large number of cartographic and general functions; core functionality will be implemented first which in a later phase can be extended according to user needs. Currently, work is done on the visualization core module, allowing for 2d and 3d mapping by means of osgEarth --- a dedicated virtual globe engine. This visualization engine is capable of handling large amounts of geographical data and web services. Essentially, the system offers 2d and 3d visualization of raster data (DTMs, grids, map sheets, aerial and satellite images) and vector data (choropleths, univariate symbols and diagrams, POIs), and even solid 3d objects. Moreover, it allows for intuitive spatial navigation, layer management, information query, and labeling. Future core development will be necessary to refine cartographic 3d representation techniques and to implement interactive methods. Concurrently, a flexible GUI for different platforms has to be set up and a lot of cartographic and editorial work has to be done to realize an online 3d atlas application.

Atlas of Switzerland Goes Online and 3D—Concept, Architecture and Visualization Methods

Interactive atlas systems are products of high cartographic quality and user-targeted functionality. The main challenge for future digital atlases will be to incorporate the new trends of 3D mapping, online and mobile applications into atlas design. The Atlas of Switzerland, an example of a mature digital atlas, tries to advance these trends together with existing atlas functions in its next version. Starting with the concept of an online 3D atlas, this article explains the architectural implications of an atlas based on a virtual globe engine. By embedding the globe in a modern graphical user interface and implementing cartographic 3D visualizations, it is intended to strengthen the position of the atlas against other online mapping services.

Designing a Rule-based Wizard for Visualizing Statistical Data on Thematic Maps

Thematic maps are used in a wide range of scientific fields to illustrate specific geographic phenomena. For their correct construction, the mapmaker has to select the appropriate data, and then consider different parameters and constraints in order to visualize them effectively. In this paper, these parameters were analyzed, so that a consistent and standardized workflow for producing thematic maps could be set up. This workflow served as the basis for designing and implementing a step-by-step wizard-based application. Its goal is to guide mapmakers—experts or laypersons—to create cartographically sound thematic maps based on statistical data, in a user-friendly way. To standardize the procedure, we analyzed the relationships between different mapping techniques and the types of data with which they are used to illustrate a geographic phenomenon. Based on this analysis, we created a new taxonomy of mapping techniques and used it to automate the selection procedure within the wizard. This analysis could also be of general use for researchers producing thematic maps in different mapping applications.