The design-by-adaptation approach to universal access: learning from videogame technology

This paper proposes an alternative approach to the design of universally accessible interfaces to that provided by formal design frameworks applied ab initio to the development of new software. This approach, design-byadaptation, involves the transfer of interface technology and/or design principles from one application domain to another, in situations where the recipient domain is similar to the host domain in terms of modelled systems, tasks and users. Using the example of interaction in 3D virtual environments, the paper explores how principles underlying the design of videogame interfaces may be applied to a broad family of visualization and analysis software which handles geographical data (virtual geographic environments, or VGEs). One of the motivations behind the current study is that VGE technology lags some way behind videogame technology in the modelling of 3D environments, and has a less-developed track record in providing the variety of interaction methods needed to undertake varied tasks in 3D virtual worlds by users with varied levels of experience. The current analysis extracted a set of interaction principles from videogames which were used to devise a set of 3D task interfaces that have been implemented in a prototype VGE for formal evaluation

Expressive cutting, deforming, and painting of three-dimensional digital shapes through asymmetric bimanual haptic manipulation

Practitioners of the geosciences, design, and engineering disciplines communicate complex ideas about shape by manipulating three-dimensional digital objects to match their conceptual model. However, the two-dimensional control interfaces, common in software applications, create a disconnect to three-dimensional manipulations. This research examines cutting, deforming, and painting manipulations for expressive three-dimensional interaction. It presents a cutting algorithm specialized for planning cuts on a triangle mesh, the extension of a deformation algorithm for inhomogeneous meshes, and the definition of inhomogeneous meshes by painting into a deformation property map. This thesis explores two-handed interactions with haptic force-feedback where each hand can fulfill an asymmetric bimanual role. These digital shape manipulations demonstrate a step toward the creation of expressive three-dimensional interactions

Combining 3-D geovisualization with force feedback driven user interaction

We describe a prototype software system for investigating novel human-computer interaction techniques for 3-D geospatial data. This system, M4-Geo (Multi-Modal Mesh Manipulation of Geospatial data), aims to provide a more intuitive interface for directly manipulating 3-D surface data, such as digital terrain models (DTM). The M4-Geo system takes place within a 3-D environment and uses a Phantom haptic force feedback device to enhance 3-D computer graphics with touch-based interactions. The Phantom uses a 3-D force feedback stylus, which acts as a virtual “finger tip ” that allows the user to feel the shape (morphology) of the terrain’s surface in great detail. In addition, it acts as a touch sensitive tool for different GIS tasks, such as digitizing (draping) of lines and polygons directly onto a 3-D surface and directly deforming surfaces (by pushing or pulling the stylus in or out). The user may adjust the properties of the surface deformation (e.g., soft or hard) locally by painting it with a special “material color.” The overlap of visual and force representation of 3-D data aides hand-eye coordination for these tasks and helps the user to perceive the 3-D spatial data in a more holistic, multi-sensory way. The use of such a 3-D force feedback device for direct interaction may thus provide more intuitive and efficient alternatives to the mouse and keyboards driven interactions common today, in particular in areas related to digital landscape design, surface hydrology and geotechnical engineering

Development of a diffusion kernel density estimator and application on marine carbon-13 isotope data

My work developed a kernel density estimator that well resolves typical structures of probability densities, which was demonstrated on a newly compiled marine data set of organic carbon-13 isotope ratios (δ13CPOC). All work was conducted within the emerging field of marine data science. I identified classical data science, a general understanding of ocean science, communication skills, and confidence as requirements for marine data scientists. In the beginning of my work, the existing δ13CPOC data consisted of about 500 data points in the global ocean. I expanded the existing data set to 4732 data points in a first version, and additionally to 6952 in a second. Both are published at PANGAEA along with meta information such as measurement location, time, and method, and interpolations. I have published a description of the temporal and geographic distribution of the first version at Earth System Science Data. I designed the development of the kernel density estimator algorithm on the existing concept of computing it as a solution of the diffusion equation. My algorithm uses finite differences in space and equidistant time steps with an implicit Euler method, and approximates the optimal smoothing parameter by two pilot steps. Compared to other well-known kernel density estimators, my algorithm produces reliable approximations of multimodal and boundary-close distributions on artificial and real marine data and is robust to noise. My implementation is published as a Python package on Zenodo, its description is submitted to Geoscientific Model Development. I was able to show that my kernel density estimator reliably evalu- ates ocean data and thus lays a foundation for calibrating Earth system models. At the same time, I was able to contribute to the definition and establishment of the field of Marine Data Science

The design-by-adaptation approach to universal access: learning from videogame technology

This paper proposes an alternative approach to the design of universally accessible interfaces to that provided by formal design frameworks applied ab initio to the development of new software. This approach, design-byadaptation, involves the transfer of interface technology and/or design principles from one application domain to another, in situations where the recipient domain is similar to the host domain in terms of modelled systems, tasks and users. Using the example of interaction in 3D virtual environments, the paper explores how principles underlying the design of videogame interfaces may be applied to a broad family of visualization and analysis software which handles geographical data (virtual geographic environments, or VGEs). One of the motivations behind the current study is that VGE technology lags some way behind videogame technology in the modelling of 3D environments, and has a less-developed track record in providing the variety of interaction methods needed to undertake varied tasks in 3D virtual worlds by users with varied levels of experience. The current analysis extracted a set of interaction principles from videogames which were used to devise a set of 3D task interfaces that have been implemented in a prototype VGE for formal evaluation

Interactive maps: What we know and what we need to know

This article provides a review of the current state of science regarding cartographic interaction a complement to the traditional focus within cartography on cartographic representation. Cartographic interaction is defined as the dialog between a human and map mediated through a computing device and is essential to the research into interactive cartography geovisualization and geovisual analytics. The review is structured around six fundamental questions facing a science of cartographic interaction: (1) what is cartographic interaction (e.g. digital versus analog interactions interaction versus interfaces stages of interaction interactive maps versus mapping systems versus map mash-ups); (2) why provide cartographic interaction (e.g. visual thinking geographic insight the stages of science the cartographic problematic); (3) when should cartographic interaction be provided (e.g. static versus interactive maps interface complexity the productivity paradox flexibility versus constraint work versus enabling interactions); (4) who should be provided with cartographic interaction (e.g. user-centered design user ability expertise and motivation adaptive cartography and geocollaboration); (5) where should cartographic interaction be provided (e.g. input capabilities bandwidth and processing power display capabilities mobile mapping and location-based services); and (6) how should cartographic interaction be provided (e.g. interaction primitives objective-based versus operator-based versus operand-based taxonomies interface styles interface design)? The article concludes with a summary of research questions facing cartographic interaction and offers an outlook for cartography as a field of study moving forward

Concept and Workflow for 3D Visualization of Multifaceted Meteorological Data

The analysis of heterogeneous, complex data sets has become important in many scientific domains. With the help of scientific visualization, researchers can be supported in exploring their research results. One domain, where researchers have to deal with spatio-temporal data from different sources including simulation, observation and time-independent data, is meteorology. In this thesis, a concept and workflow for the 3D visualization of meteorological data was developed in cooperation with domain experts. Three case studies have been conducted based on the developed concept. In addition, the concept has been enhanced based on the experiences gained from the case studies. In contrast to existing all-in-one software applications, the proposed workflow employs a combination of existing software applications and their extensions to make a variety of already implemented visualization algorithms available. The workflow provides methods for data integration and for abstraction of the data as well as for generating representations of the variables of interest. Solutions for visualizing sets of variables, comparing results of multiple simulation runs and results of simulations based on different models are presented. The concept includes the presentation of the visualization scenes in virtual reality environments for a more comprehensible display of multifaceted data. To enable the user to navigate within the scenes, some interaction functionality was provided to control time, camera, and display of objects. The proposed methods have been selected with respect to the requirements defined in cooperation with the domain experts and have been verified with user tests. The developed visualization methods are used to analyze and present recent research results as well as for educational purposes. As the proposed approach uses generally applicable concepts, it can also be applied for the analysis of scientific data from other disciplines.In nahezu allen Wissenschaftsdisziplinen steigt der Umfang erhobener Daten. Diese sind oftmals heterogen und besitzen eine komplexe Struktur, was ihre Analyse zu einer Herausforderung macht. Die wissenschaftliche Visualisierung bietet hier Möglichkeiten, Wissenschaftler bei der Untersuchung ihrer Forschungsergebnisse zu unterstützen. Eine der Disziplinen, in denen räumlich-zeitliche Daten aus verschiedenen Quellen inklusive Simulations- und Observationsdaten eine Rolle spielen, ist die Meteorologie. In dieser Arbeit wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit Experten der Meteorologie ein Konzept und ein Workflow für die 3D-Visualisierung meteorologischer Daten entwickelt. Dabei wurden drei Fallstudien erarbeitet, die zum einen auf dem erstellten Konzept beruhen und zum anderen durch die während der Fallstudie gesammelten Erfahrungen das Konzept erweiterten. Der Workflow besteht aus einer Kombination existierender Software sowie Erweiterungen dieser. Damit wurden Funktionen zur Verfügung gestellt, die bei anderen Lösungsansätzen in diesem Bereich, die oft nur eine geringere Anzahl an Funktionalität bieten, nicht zur Verfügung stehen. Der Workflow beinhaltet Methoden zur Datenintegration sowie für die Abstraktion und Darstellung der Daten. Es wurden Lösungen für die Visualisierung einer Vielzahl an Variablen sowie zur vergleichenden Darstellung verschiedener Simulationsläufe und Simulationen verschiedener Modelle präsentiert. Die generierten Visualisierungsszenen wurden mit Hilfe von 3D-Geräten, beispielsweise eine Virtual-Reality-Umgebung, dargestellt. Die stereoskopische Projektion bietet dabei die Möglichkeit, diese komplexen Daten mit verbessertem räumlichem Eindruck darzustellen. Um dem Nutzer eine umfassende Analyse der Daten zu ermöglichen, wurden eine Reihe von Funktionen zur Interaktion zur Verfügung gestellt, um beispielsweise Zeit, Kamera und die Anzeige von 3D-Objekten zu steuern. Das Konzept und der Workflow wurden entsprechend der Anforderungen entwickelt, die zusammen mit Fachexperten definiert wurden. Des Weiteren wurden die Anwendungen in verschiedenen Entwicklungsstadien durch Nutzer getestet und deren Feedback in die Entwicklung einbezogen. Die Ergebnisse der Fallstudien wurden von den Wissenschaftlern benutzt, um ihre Daten zu analysieren, sowie diese zu präsentieren und in der Lehre einzusetzen. Da der vorgeschlagene Workflow allgemein anwendbare Konzepte beinhaltet, kann dieser auch für die Analyse wissenschaftlicher Daten anderer Disziplinen verwendet werden

Direct And Evolutionary Approaches For Optimal Receiver Function Inversion

Receiver functions are time series obtained by deconvolving vertical component seismograms from radial component seismograms. Receiver functions represent the impulse response of the earth structure beneath a seismic station. Generally, receiver functions consist of a number of seismic phases related to discontinuities in the crust and upper mantle. The relative arrival times of these phases are correlated with the locations of discontinuities as well as the media of seismic wave propagation. The Moho (Mohorovicic discontinuity) is a major interface or discontinuity that separates the crust and the mantle. In this research, automatic techniques to determine the depth of the Moho from the earth’s surface (the crustal thickness H) and the ratio of crustal seismic P-wave velocity (Vp) to S-wave velocity (Vs) (ï«= Vp/Vs) were developed. In this dissertation, an optimization problem of inverting receiver functions has been developed to determine crustal parameters and the three associated weights using evolutionary and direct optimization techniques