the construction of a land image: data and their space-time visualization / LA COSTRUZIONE DI UN'IMMAGINE DEL TERRITORIO: I DATI E LA LORO VISUALIZZAZIONE SPAZIO-TEMPORALE

tesi di dottorato di ricerca Relatori: L. Bazzanella, J. Borsboom, A. De Ross

Detecting spatial features from data-maps: The visual intersection of data as support to decision-making

The assessment of spatial systems can be supported by the analysis of data coming from different sources and describing different aspects such as economic, social, environmental, energy, housing or mobility issues. Nevertheless, the analysis of such a large amount of data is difficult. In order to improve the readability of data also with non-technicians, new methods of communication are needed, which could facilitate the sharing of information among people with different skills and backgrounds. In this context, the paper shows the developments in geo-visualisation to support and improve the processes of planning and decision-making. First, the use of a map-based visualisation is suitable for intuitively understanding the location and distribution of specific elements. Second, the graphic interface can be used to drive users in the investigation of data. It can provide a linear method that is more comprehensive to the human mind in dealing with the complexity of spatial systems. In addition, the possibility to select and filter data by single attributes allows databases to be explored interactively and read by differently skilled users. The intersection and overlapping of information enables users to discover the relationships between data, the inefficiencies and critical areas, thus providing suggestions for further reasoning in planning and decision-making. Furthermore, collaborative and participatory sessions require quick answers and simple readability. Thus, the real time response to simple queries widens the opportunities for improving the discussion. A case study describes the methodology used for sharing the data collected during an Interreg IVB NWE Project named “CoDe24” (INTERREG IVB NWE, 2005; ERDF European Territorial Cooperation 2007-2013, 2010). By the use of a web-GIS visualisation tool, namely GISualisation, the project partnership was allowed to explore the data concerning the railways and train typologies along the Genoa-Rotterdam corridor. Despite the high factor of usability of the tool, it was not employed much by participants to the project so that further reasoning is needed to evaluate how digital tools are perceived by professionals

Comparing Traditional Maps with Twitter-Derived Maps: Exploring Differences and Similarities

The paper describes the use of quantitative data obtained from the social medium Twitter to analyse urban patterns. A case study in the urban neighbourhood of Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is described to show the outcomes of a comparative analysis with traditional data used in the urban and transport planning processes of the city. The maps derived from the elaboration of Twitter data are overlapped to traditional maps providing evidence of similarities and differences. The paper illustrates the outcomes of this overlapping and discusses the possibilities given by the use of freely and quickly available data instead of costly but official data

GISualisation: a tool for visually supporting planning processes

The evaluation of quality of life in cities can be supported by the analysis of data coming from different sources and describing different aspects such as economic, social, environmental, energy, housing or mobility issues. Nevertheless, the analysis of such big amounts of data is difficult so that only expert technicians can access to their inner contents. Furthermore, the outcomes of these analyses are often presented in static outcomes which reproduce the reasoning of technicians who have not expertise in urban studies. Thus, planners and decision-makers have to base their own choices on given outcomes without opportunities for personally investigating the inner contents of data. In order to facilitate the data exploration and readability by non-technicians, a GIS-based visualization tool, namely “GISualisation”, has been realized to give to both planners and actors involved in planning processes, a decision support system useful to visualize the inter-relations between data which describe cities. The tool is a web-based interactive visual tool, which works on geo-referenced dynamic maps, currently created with free Web GIS applications. GISualisation displays data on a map and offers the possibility to select and filter data by single attributes, allowing users to interact readily with large databases and customise the visualisation of information. Thus, the tool offers a simple interface to visualise GIS data on the basis of users’ requests, providing a support for planners and decision-makers to explore data and detect issues of inefficiency, ineffectiveness or critical areas which needs further reasoning on their planning or design. Furthermore, it can be used in collaborative and participatory session so to improve the information sharing among participants. Depending on the case study, the tool can be adapted and customized to visualise different type of data, ensuring user-friendliness and possibility to explore the relationships between data. GISualisation has already been applied in investigating inefficiencies in a public transport system (Pensa, Masala, Arnone, & Rosa, 2013), in studying pedestrian paths in an urban area, in analysing urban population health and in the evaluation of social housing projects. Further developments will include the integration with the interactive Visualisation Tool (InViTo) (Pensa, Masala, & Lami, 2013; Pensa & Masala, 2014) and the possibility to include real-time data feeds. Through GISualisation, data on quality of life can be investigated and visually analysed so to offer a new tool to actors involved in planning process for detecting critical areas and improving the urban planning process

The effects of decision-making on urban form: a tool for supporting planning processes

In wide area planning, collaboration and participation are nowadays a common approach to the creation of a land or urban design. Thus, planning involves different kinds of professionals, usually coming from different disciplines and, in particular, speaking different languages. GIS technologies are generally used as support to investigate planning and decision making questions, but knowledge process is often limited by the lack of users’ ability in reading output data. Thus, the improvement of information sharing among many users is one of main tasks of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). This is commonly achieved through the use of visual tools which allow users to understand data through intuitive perception. For this reason, the ongoing research described in this paper is investigating a modelling system to combine visual tools with GIS technologies, in order to create a shared common language which could be able to really support wide area Planning processes.Peer Reviewe

Visualisation as a Model. Overview on Communication Techniques in Transport and Urban Planning

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) changed the way planners present and operate with their projects. New visualisation tools have changed the ways projects and plans are presented and disseminated. However, the opportunities given by visualisation are not completely exploited in the professional practice. This is due to several bottlenecks which occur in the daily carrying out of activities. The paper is organised in three sections. The first one explains how visualisation can be an added value to the planning practice if it is organised and designed as a framework of information; conceiving the visualisation as a model, data can be managed and represented in order to provide information at different levels of expertise, allowing city plans to be analysed and understood before their realisation. The second section resumes the changes caused by the introduction of ICT within the daily practice; a comparison between pre-digital and digital approaches highlights current opportunities for implementing the communication values of plans and projects. The third part illustrates some examples of innovative visualisations in the urban and transport planning practice, showing a number of uses of visualisation to fit different purposes. The paper concludes this insight formulating the necessity for integrating the studies on visualisation coming from different disciplines into a scientific method that can be proposed as a guideline in building the images of urban and transport plans. This would be particularly useful for obtaining a more scientific approach in the choices of representation and visualisation of urban aspects

the construction of a land image: data and their space-time visualization / LA COSTRUZIONE DI UN’IMMAGINE DEL TERRITORIO: I DATI E LA LORO VISUALIZZAZIONE SPAZIO-TEMPORALE.

tesi di dottorato di ricerca Relatori: L. Bazzanella, J. Borsboom, A. De Ross

INTERACTIVE VISUALIZATION TOOL (INVITO): A WEB VISUAL TOOL FOR SHARING INFORMATION IN TERRITORIAL DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES

Territorial planning is the focus of considerable debates, which often develop into uncertain and vulnerable decision contexts. Numbers and quantitative information in fact often dominate the process of decision-making but they are not easily comprehensible through quick and simple reasoning. Nonetheless, the huge quantities of data that describe our cities and regions could provide excellent bases to analyze spatial data in order to assess territories and simulate future development scenarios. The application of innovative digital tools in the analysis of urban issues offers new advantages and opportunities for the improvement of communication values in policies and decision-making processes, concurring to overcome conventional approaches to territorial management. The paper describes the application of the Interactive Visualization Tool (InViTo), a web tool based on maps and visual analysis allowing data to be filtered, explored, interconnected and compared on a visual interface. Data visualization, intended as the way to see the unseen (McCormick et al., 1987), is here used as a new paradigm to highlight the positive and negative effects on spatial systems considering the impacts of choice-alternatives along multiple dimensions. The correlation between information and their localization generates an essential instrument for the knowledge of urban dynamics and resilience in answering to specific policies. The investigation of a number of case studies shows the possibilities and opportunities given by the use of InViTo in creating a shared knowledge between actors involved in decision-making processes and in offering a challenge for integrating new perspectives on the analysis of future cities and regions