1Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events

Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events

PI: Robert Moorhead

2Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events

Team Members

Phil Amburn, GRI, Associate Research Professor

Derek Irby, GRI, Research Associate

Jean Mohammadi-Aragh, GRI, Research Associate

Robert Moorhead, GRI, ECE Dept., PI

Jibo Sanyal, ECE, PhD student

Kequn Wu, CSE, PhD student

Song Zhang, GRI, CSE Dept., Assistant Professor

3Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events

Team EffortsGoogle Earth

Target Audience: Non-technical Public

Through a few simple mouse clicks on our web interface, a visitor can generate KML to investigate desired storm data in Google Earth - without ever writing a single line of KML. The web interface and Google Earth are platform independent.

Triton IITarget Audience: Scientists

Triton II is a virtual realty demo that runs in MSU’s VERTEX facility. It overcomes different grids to combine meteorological and oceanographic data in one program, allowing for the exploration of storms as they progress from the ocean to land.

Evenly Spaced StreamlinesTarget Audience: Scientists and the Public

Evenly spaced streamlines are more than just “prettier pictures”; they ensure full coverage of all flow features, enabling a better understand of the flow from both a technical and non-technical point of view. Evenly spaced streamlines ensure majority, if not all, flow features are visible.

vGeoTarget Audience: Scientists

We use vGeo in MSU’s VERTEX facility to navigate and interact with time varying, three-dimensional worlds created from a multitude of data sets including satellite imagery (remote sensing) and MM5 Model Output (atmospheric circulation, e.g., hurricane data).

* Highlighted at the 2008 NGI Annual Conference

4Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events

Google Earth Examples

Google Earth is already being used to visualize weather phenomena such as ocean currents, cloud cover, and flooding. However, the non-technical public, with no knowledge of programming or KML coding, is limited to visualizations someone else has already created.

5Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events

6Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events

Through a variety of drop down boxes, a visitor can select which data sets, variables, and visualization techniques they would like included in their KML. After selecting “Build KML”, the system generates their custom KML file which is previewed in Google Maps and can be loaded into Google Earth.

7Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events

AGAVE: A GoogleEarth Automated Visualization Environment

Example: Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Lili Tracks

8Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events

AGAVE: A GoogleEarth Automated Visualization Environment

Example: Colored columns to indicate Storm Surge Height (based on FEMA High Water Marks)

9Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events

AGAVE: A GoogleEarth Automated Visualization Environment

Example: Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery overlay, with hurricane path and points of interest.