20,386 research outputs found
Embedding Spatial Software Visualization in the IDE: an Exploratory Study
Software visualization can be of great use for understanding and exploring a
software system in an intuitive manner. Spatial representation of software is a
promising approach of increasing interest. However, little is known about how
developers interact with spatial visualizations that are embedded in the IDE.
In this paper, we present a pilot study that explores the use of Software
Cartography for program comprehension of an unknown system. We investigated
whether developers establish a spatial memory of the system, whether clustering
by topic offers a sound base layout, and how developers interact with maps. We
report our results in the form of observations, hypotheses, and implications.
Key findings are a) that developers made good use of the map to inspect search
results and call graphs, and b) that developers found the base layout
surprising and often confusing. We conclude with concrete advice for the design
of embedded software maps.Comment: To appear in proceedings of SOFTVIS 2010 conferenc
Rethinking Map Legends with Visualization
This design paper presents new guidance for creating map legends in a dynamic environment. Our contribution is a set of guidelines for legend design in a visualization context and a series of illustrative themes through which they may be expressed. These are demonstrated in an applications context through interactive software prototypes. The guidelines are derived from cartographic literature and in liaison with EDINA who provide digital mapping services for UK tertiary education. They enhance approaches to legend design that have evolved for static media with visualization by considering: selection, layout, symbols, position, dynamism and design and process. Broad visualization legend themes include: The Ground Truth Legend, The Legend as Statistical Graphic and The Map is the Legend. Together, these concepts enable us to augment legends with dynamic properties that address specific needs, rethink their nature and role and contribute to a wider re-evaluation of maps as artifacts of usage rather than statements of fact. EDINA has acquired funding to enhance their clients with visualization legends that use these concepts as a consequence of this work. The guidance applies to the design of a wide range of legends and keys used in cartography and information visualization
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Mediating geovisualization to potential users and prototyping a geovisualization application
The State of the Art in Cartograms
Cartograms combine statistical and geographical information in thematic maps,
where areas of geographical regions (e.g., countries, states) are scaled in
proportion to some statistic (e.g., population, income). Cartograms make it
possible to gain insight into patterns and trends in the world around us and
have been very popular visualizations for geo-referenced data for over a
century. This work surveys cartogram research in visualization, cartography and
geometry, covering a broad spectrum of different cartogram types: from the
traditional rectangular and table cartograms, to Dorling and diffusion
cartograms. A particular focus is the study of the major cartogram dimensions:
statistical accuracy, geographical accuracy, and topological accuracy. We
review the history of cartograms, describe the algorithms for generating them,
and consider task taxonomies. We also review quantitative and qualitative
evaluations, and we use these to arrive at design guidelines and research
challenges
Review of current practices in recording road traffic incident data: with specific reference to spatial analysis and road policing policy
Road safety involves three major components: the road system, the human factor and the vehicle element.
These three elements are inter-linked through geo-referenced traffic events and provide the basis for road
safety analyses and attempts to reduce the number of road traffic incidents and improve road safety.
Although numbers of deaths and serious injuries are back to approximately the 1950s levels when there
were many fewer vehicles on the road, there are still over 100 fatalities or serious injuries every day, and
this is a considerable waste of human capital. It is widely acknowledged that the location perspective is the
most suitable methodology by which to analyse different traffic events, where by in this paper, I will
concentrating on the relationship between road traffic incidents and traffic policing. Other methods include
studying road and vehicle engineering and these will be discussed later. It is worth noting here that there is
some division within the literature concerning the definitions of ‘accident’ and ‘incident’. In this paper I
will use ‘incident’ because it is important to acknowledge a vast majority of ‘road accidents’ are in fact
crimes. However I will use the term ‘accident’ where it is referred to in the literature or relevant reports. It
is important to mention here that a road traffic accident can be defined as ‘the product of an unwelcome
interaction between two or more moving objects, or a fixed and moving object’ (Whitelegg 1986). Road
safety and road incident reduction relates to many other fields of activity including education, driver
training, publicity campaigns, police enforcement, road traffic policing, the court system, the National
Health Service and Vehicle engineering.
Although the subject of using GIS to analyse road traffic incidents has not received much academic
attention, it lies in the field of crime mapping which is becoming increasingly important. It is clear that
studies have been attempted to analyse road traffic incidents using GIS are increasingly sophisticated in
terms of hypotheses and statistical technique (for example see Austin, Tight and Kirby 1997). However it is
also clear that there is considerable blurring of boundaries and the analysis of road accidents sits
uncomfortably in crime mapping. This is due to four main reasons:
- Road traffic incidents are associated with road engineering, which is concerned with generic
solutions while road traffic analysis is about sensitivity to particular contexts.
- Not all road traffic incidents are crimes
- It is not just the police who have an interest in reducing road traffic incidents, other partners
include local authorities, hospitals and vehicle manufacturers
- The management of road traffic incidents is not just confined to the police
GIS has been used for over thirty years however it has only been recently been used in the field of
transportation. The field of transportation has come to embrace Geographical Information Systems as a keytechnology to support its research and operational need. The acronym GIS-T is often employed to refer to
the application and adaptation of GIS to research, planning and management in transportation. GIS-T
covers a broad arena of disciplines of which road traffic incident detection is just one theme. Others include
in vehicle navigation systems.
Initially it was only used to ask simple accident enquiries such as depicting the relative incidence of
accidents in wet weather or when there is no street lighting, or to flag high absolute or relative incidences
of accidents (see Anderson 2002). Recently however there has been increased acknowledgement that there
is a requirement to go beyond these simple questions and to extend the analyses. It has been widely claimed
by academics and the police alike that knowing where road accidents occur must lead to better road
policing, in order to ensure that road policing becomes better integrated with other policing activities. This
paper will be used to explore issues surrounding the analysis of road traffic accidents and how GIS
analysts, police and policy makers can achieve a better understanding of road traffic incidents and how to
reduce them.
For the purpose of this study I will be trying to achieve a broader overview of the aspects concerning road
accident analysis with a strong emphasis on data quality and accuracy with concern to GIS analysis. Data
quality and accuracy are seen as playing a pivotal role in the road traffic management agenda because they assist the police and Local Authorities as to the specific location whereby management can be undertaken.
Part one will consider the introduction to road incidents and their relationship with geography and spatial
analysis and how this were initially applied to locating ‘hotspots’ and the more recent theory of ‘accident
migration’. Part two will address current data issues of the UK collection procedure. This section will pay
particular reference to geo-referencing and the implication of data quality on the procedure of analysing
road incidents using GIS. Part three addresses issues surrounding the spatial analysis of road traffic
incidents, including some techniques such as spatial autocorrelation, time-space geography and the
modifiable area unit problem. Finally part four looks at the role of effective road traffic policing and how
this can be achieved due to better understanding of the theory and issues arising from analysing road traffic
incidents. It will also look at the diffusion and use of GIS within the police and local authorities
How was it for you? Experiences of participatory design in the UK health service
Improving co-design methods implies that we need to understand those methods, paying attention to not only the effect of method choices on design outcomes, but also how methods affect the people involved in co-design. In this article, we explore participants' experiences from a year-long participatory health service design project to develop ‘Better Outpatient Services for Older People’. The project followed a defined method called experience-based design (EBD), which represented the state of the art in participatory service design within the UK National Health Service. A sample of participants in the project took part in semi-structured interviews reflecting on their involvement in and their feelings about the project. Our findings suggest that the EBD method that we employed was successful in establishing positive working relationships among the different groups of stakeholders (staff, patients, carers, advocates and design researchers), although conflicts remained throughout the project. Participants' experiences highlighted issues of wider relevance in such participatory design: cost versus benefit, sense of project momentum, locus of control, and assumptions about how change takes place in a complex environment. We propose tactics for dealing with these issues that inform the future development of techniques in user-centred healthcare design
CEDIM Risk Explorer ? a map server solution in the project "Risk Map Germany"
International audienceThe project "Risk Map Germany" at the Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology (CEDIM) aims at visualizing hazards, vulnerabilities and risks associated with natural and man made hazards. CEDIM as an interdisciplinary project unified various expertise like earthquake, storm and flood disaster research. Our aim was to visualize the manifold data exploration in thematic maps. The implemented Web-GIS solution "CEDIM Risk Explorer" represents the map visualizations of the different risk research. This Web-GIS integrates results from interdisciplinary work as maps of hazard, vulnerability and risk in one application and offers therefore new cognitions to the user by enabling visual comparisons. The present paper starts with a project introduction and a literature review of distributed GIS environments. Further the methods of map realization and visualization in the selected technical solution is worked out. Finally, the conclusions give the perspectives for future developments to the "CEDIM Risk Explorer"
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