Geovisualization

Over the past decade, improvements in both technology and our understanding of human cognition have resulted in the development of myriad innovative methods for visualizing geospatial data, processes, analyses, and models. Collectively, these new methods are referred to as geovisualization techniques, and they have provided exciting new ways for synthesizing and understanding geospatial data.

Some of the research in geography at the University includes animation and four-dimensional cartographies (in particular for historical geospatial data), user interface design, the visual effects of geographic scale and cartographic generalization, and the visualization of multivariable data.

Specific questions under investigation include: How can one both collect and represent localized knowledge in visual (cartographic) form? How can the intrinsic data quality and error of geospatial data be visualized for both population and biophysical problems? What are effective methods of visualizing complex spatial relationships, such as those between hazardous materials and vulnerable populations? How can one visualize complex human spatial processes, such as migration, social inequity, and spatial mismatch? How can biophysical processes, such as vegetation change and lake-level change, be visualized?

If this genre of research interests you, shoot an email to any of our faculty who work in this area—they are more than happy to work with you and answer your questions!

Name Contact
Steve Manson manson@umn.edu
Bob McMaster mcmaster@umn.edu
Eric Shook eshook@umn.edu
Ying Song yingsong@umn.edu
Di Zhu dizhu@umn.edu