Abstract:
We focus on visual analysis of space- and time-referenced categorical data,
which describe possible states of spatial (geographical) objects or locations
and their changes over time. The analysis of these data is difficult as there
are only limited possibilities to analyze the three aspects (location, time
and category) simultaneously. We present a new approach which interactively
combines (a) visualization of categorical changes over time; (b) various
spatial data displays; (c) computational techniques for task-oriented
selection of time steps. They provide an expressive visualization with regard
to either the overall evolution over time or unusual changes. We apply our
approach on two use cases demonstrating its usefulness for a wide variety of
tasks. We analyze data from movement tracking and meteorologic areas. Using
our approach, expected events could be detected and new insights were gained.