3D Information Visualization for Time Dependent Data on Maps

The visual analysis of time dependent data is an essential task in many application fields. However, visualizing large time dependent data collected within a spatial context is still a challenging task. In this paper, we therefore describe an approach for visualizing spatio-temporal data on maps. The approach is based on two commonly used concepts: 3D information visualization and information hiding. These concepts are realized by means of novel embeddings of 3D icons into a map display for representing spatio-temporal data, and an integration of event-based methods for reducing the amount of information to be represented. Our approach is capable of visualizing multiple time dependent attributes on maps, and of emphasizing the characteristics constituted by either linear or cyclic temporal dependencies.