Geovisualization

Lore & Background

The term 'visualization' is often attributed to an article by John K. A 1987 National Science Foundation report redefined visualization at the convergence of computer graphics, image processing, computer vision, computer-aided design, signal processing, and user interface studies, emphasizing knowledge creation and hypothesis generation. Geovisualization emerged more prominently as a research field in the 1990s, building on earlier work by French graphic theorist Jacques Bertin, though his focus was on static rather than dynamic displays.

Reader's Guide

Geovisualization has continued to grow as a subject of practice and research. Applications include wildland fire fighting, where the SimTable 3D interactive fire simulator models fires using actual slope, terrain, wind, and vegetation; forestry, where geovisualizers used CommonGIS and Visualization Toolkit to explore spatio-temporal forest data; archaeology, providing techniques for mapping unearthed environments; environmental studies, enabling stakeholders to explore complex data and policy scenarios; and urban planning, where both planners and the public use geovisualization to model 'what if' scenarios. The field contributes to other visualization domains through the map metaphor, which has been widely used to visualize non-geographic information.

Did You Know?

• Geovisualization emerged more prominently as a research field in the 1990s, building on earlier work by French graphic theorist Jacques Bertin, though his focus was on static rather than dynamic displays.
• The SimTable fire simulator was not deployed for Arizona's largest fire on record, the Wallow Fire.