CSISS – Specialist Meeting on Spatial Data Analysis Software Tools Abstract Developing Too.pdf

CSISS – Specialist Meeting on Spatial Data Analysis Software Tools Abstract : Developing Tools for GeoVisualization Research Dr. Jason Dykes, Department of Information Science, City University, London, jad7@city.ac.uk “Estimates suggest that 80% of all digital data generated today include geospatial referencing. This enables integration of vast stores of diverse information. At the same time, the magnitude and complexity of data sets that can be brought together through their common geospatial links present an extraordinary challenge for information science – How do we transform these data into information and subsequently into knowledge?” MacEachren and Kraak (2001) 1. Requirements As data collection methods expand, data volumes multiply and the expectations of data users increase, graphics offer some promise for those aiming to generate information from data and knowledge from information. Graphical theory and principles exist for communicating information and generating knowledge from data sets of limited size, using representational methods of limited scope. New techniques that can be applied to our new data sets can draw upon some of this wisdom. But we need to develop methods that take advantage of the evolving computational possibilities and appropriate methodologies for evaluation of these burgeoning possibilities (see MacEachren Kraak, 2001). The software tool developer plays a vital role in the advancement of our knowledge and implementation of novel techniques. Utilising technological advances to the advantage of the spatial sciences the tool developer is pivotal in liaising between the requirements of the spatial scientists, the developments of the computer scientists and the established theory of the cognitive scientists, cartographers and information visualizers. Tools may be ‘operational prototypes’, des