41.4: Meta-Information Visualization in Geographic Information Display Systems

Abstract

This paper describes the development of techniques inGeographic Information Systems to support the visualization of "meta-information" -qualifiers of incoming data that significantly influence a user's perception of that data (e.g., uncertainty, recency, source). We present a brief literature review and discuss specific issues with the representation of metainformation.

Visual Representations of Meta-Information

“…Although our focus has been on communication of meta-information, we would expect the results to apply more generally. Certainly, it is appropriate to recommend that more task-relevant information be displayed in a more salient way, and whether one calls uncertainty or latency "information" or "meta-information" is context specific (Pfautz et al, 2005).…”

“…In addition to understanding the content of the information, they need to understand and reason about potential qualifiers of the information. These qualifiers, or meta-information, include characteristics such as the uncertainty associated with the data, the age of the data, and the source of the data (Pfautz, Fouse, Shuster, Bisantz, & Roth, 2005). For example, in military command and control tasks, commanders must reason about the location of threats.…”

Assessment of Display Attributes for Displaying Metainformation on Maps

“…Operators are particularly challenged by the need to reason about the qualifiers of that information. These qualifiers, or "meta-information" (Pfautz et al, 2005), include characteristics such as the uncertainty associated with data, the age of the data, and the source of the data. For example, in military command and control tasks, commanders must reason about the location of threats.…”

“…While some earlier work has speculated about methods for representing meta-information (Pfautz et al, 2005), most prior research has been focused on displays of data uncertainty (see Bisantz et al, 2005, or Pfautz et al 2006 for a review). For instance, Bisantz et al studied the use of blurred or colored icons to display uncertainty about an object's state; other work on scientific visualization and geographical information systems has developed techniques (albeit with limited performance testing), using a variety of graphical codes (e.g., color, texture), to indicate data uncertainty over areas on geospatial displays (Pang et al, 1997).…”