GreenVis: Energy-Saving Color Schemes for Sequential Data Visualization on OLED Displays

The organic light emitting diode (OLED) display has recently become popular in the consumer electronics market. Compared with current LCD display technology, OLED is an emerging display technology that emits light by the pixels themselves and doesn’t need an external back light as the illumination source. In this paper, we offer an approach to reduce power consumption on OLED displays for sequential data visualization. First, we create a multi-objective optimization approach to find the most energy-saving color scheme for given visual perception difference levels. Second, we apply the model in two situations: pre-designed color schemes and auto generated color schemes. Third, our experiment results show that the energy-saving sequential color scheme can reduce power consumption by 17.2% for pre-designed color schemes. For auto-generated color schemes, it can save 21.9% of energy in comparison to the reference color scheme for sequential data

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum Booklet

This booklet introduces electromagnetic waves, their behaviors, and how scientists visualize these data. Each region of the spectrum is described and illustrated with examples of NASA science. It is a companion piece to the video series under the same title. Educational levels: Informal education

GC Insights: Rainbow colour maps remain widely used in the geosciences

Rainbow colour maps are known to be problematic yet remain widely used in scientific communication. This study extends work by Stoelzle and Stein (2021) to investigate the extent of their use in geoscience publications. It is found that over half (55 %) of all papers surveyed from six geoscience journals from the years 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020 (n=2638) contained at least one visualisation that uses rainbow or red–green colour schemes and are therefore potentially misleading and colour-inaccessible. Recent changes to the submission guidelines for all European Geosciences Union (EGU) journals would seem to place greater responsibility in the future with editors and reviewers to identify and correct colour issues as part of the review process

A User-Based Look at Visualization Tools for Environmental Data and Suggestions for Improvement - An Inventory among City Planners in Gothenburg

With a growing interest in environmental data and the need to consider various environmental factors earlier in the planning processes, it becomes more important to disseminate this type of information to different target groups in a comprehensible way. To support easier decision making, many cities and municipalities are increasingly using digital city models where it is possible to integrate different types of information based on simulation and visualization of future scenarios. Such tools have high potential, but the visual representation of data still needs to be developed. In this paper, we investigate how professionals within urban planning currently use visualization to communicate environmental data, and what their needs are regarding tools and visual representation. We discuss challenges for representing environmental data in urban development processes, with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of these issues. We base our investigation on a literature study, an inventorying survey and a focus group discussion with professionals within urban planning. This study provides an end-user perspective among urban planners and valuable insights on tool usage and visualization. Results show that applications used for environmental visualization still can be improved regarding, e.g., user friendliness and information handling, which may increase their efficiency

A proposal of a standard rainbow false color scale for thermal medical images

Medical thermal imaging offers the opportunity of human body physiology monitoring. The frequent use of false color scales in those images has the objective of being a visual aid for human eye interpretation. However, several scales are being used, which may lead to different subjective interpretations. Is objective of this study to raise the need of uniformity in adoption of an internationally accepted standard false color scale and for that purpose a scale is proposed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

True colours or red herrings?:colour maps for finite-element analysis in palaeontological studies to enhance interpretation and accessibility

Accessibility is a key aspect for the presentation of research data. In palaeontology, new data is routinely obtained with computational techniques, such as finite-element analysis (FEA). FEA is used to calculate stress and deformation in objects when subjected to external forces. Results are displayed using contour plots in which colour information is used to convey the underlying biomechanical data. The Rainbow colour map is nearly exclusively used for these contour plots in palaeontological studies. However, numerous studies in other disciplines have shown the Rainbow map to be problematic due to uneven colour representation and its inaccessibility for those with colour vision deficiencies. Here, different colour maps were tested for their accuracy in representing values of FEA models. Differences in stress magnitudes (ΔS) and colour values (ΔE) of subsequent points from the FEA models were compared and their correlation was used as a measure of accuracy. The results confirm that the Rainbow colour map is not well suited to represent the underlying stress distribution of FEA models with other colour maps showing a higher discriminative power. As the performance of the colour maps varied with tested scenarios/stress types, it is recommended to use different colour maps for specific purposes

Great Bay Estuary Restoration Compendium

Single species approaches to natural resource conservation and management are now viewed as antiquated and oversimplified for dealing with complex systems. Scientists and managers who work in estuaries and other marine systems have urged adoption of ecosystem based approaches to management for nearly a decade, yet practitioners are still struggling to translate the ideas into practice. Similarly, ecological restoration projects in coastal systems have typically addressed one species or habitat. In recent years, efforts to focus on multiple species and habitats have increased. Our project developed an integrated ecosystem approach to identify multi-habitat restoration opportunities in the Great Bay estuary, New Hampshire. We created a conceptual site selection model based on a comparison of historic and modern distribution and abundance data, current environmental conditions, and expert review. Restoration targets included oysters and softshell clams, salt marshes, eelgrass beds, and seven diadromous fish species. Spatial data showing the historical and present day distributions for multiple species and habitats were compiled and integrated into a geographic information system. A matrix of habitat interactions was developed to identify potential for synergy and subsequent restoration efficiency. Output from the site selection models was considered within this framework to identify ecosystem restoration landscapes. The final products of these efforts include a series of maps detailing multi-habitat restoration opportunities extending from upland freshwater fish habitat down to the bay bottom. A companion guidance document was created to present project methods and a review of restoration methods. The authors hope that this work will help to stimulate and inform new restoration projects within the Great Bay estuarine system, and that it will serve as a foundation to be updated and improved as more information is collected

Structural biologists, lets mind our colors

In structural biology, most figures of macromolecules are aimed at those well-versed in structure, requiring prior familiarity with scales and commonly used color schemes. Yet, as structural biology becomes democratized with the increasing pace of structure determination, the accessibility of structural data is paramount. Here, we identify three keys, and have written accompanying software plugins, for structural biologists to create figures truer to the hard-won data and clearer across different modes of color vision and to non-expert readers. Use perceptually uniform colormaps Consider readers with different modes of color vision Be explicit about scales and color usag