Geographic Data Science

(Geo)visualisation
Dani Arribas-Bel

Visualization

“Data graphics visually display measured quantities by means of the combined use of points, lines, a coordinate system, numbers, symbols, words, shading, and color.”

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Edward R. Tufte.

ML data ML pic

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Visualization

  • By encoding information visually, they allow to present large amounts of numbers in a meaninful way.
  • If well made, visualizations provide leads into the processes underlying the graphic.

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Edward R. Tufte.

Geovisualization

Tufte (1983)

“The most extensive data maps […] place millions of bits of information on a single page before our eyes. No other method for the display of statistical information is so powerful”

MacEachren (1994)

“Geographic visualization can be defined as the use of concrete visual representations –whether on paper or through computer displays or other media–to make spatial contexts and problems visible, so as to engage the most powerful human information processing abilities, those associated with vision.”

GeoVisualization

  • Not to replace the human in the loop, but to augment her/him.
  • Augmentation through engaging the pattern recognition capabilities that our brain inherently has.
  • Combines cartography, infovis and statistics

A map for everyone

Maps can fulfill several needs, looking very different depending on the end-goal

MacEachren & Kraak (1997) identify three main dimensions:

  • Knowledge of what is being plotted
  • Target audience
  • Degree of interactivity

MacEachren & Kraak (1997) map cube

Cube

[Source]

Creative Commons License
A course on Geographic Data Science by Dani Arribas-Bel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.