SpatioTemporal Visualization of Battlefield Entities and Events

1
Spatio-Temporal Visualization of Battlefield
Entities and Events

• Fong Qiyue, Ng Foo Meng, Huang Zhiyong
• National University of Singapore
• DSO National Labs

2
Goals

• Extract patterns inherent in large datasets and
  manifest them in visual forms
• Explore various existing work to improve or
  modify them to adapt to requirements of the
  military application

3
Our work

• 1 novel Time Query GUI (Clock Face UI)
• 7 Spatio-Temporal Visualization Prototypes in one
  software
• Determined usability of Clock Face UI
• Determined user preference for the 7 prototypes
  in terms of informative-ness and usefulness

4
Clock face GUI
Temporal Focusing

• What It Is Time query tool
• Motivation Deviate away from conventional
  timeline/time dials/calendar controls which have
  their limitation(s)
• Design Goal Find a visual metaphor closely
  related to time
• Idea Compact a calendar within a circular layout
  to create a space-saving UI
• Result A Clock Face User Interface capable of
  forming time queries which satisfies Motivation
  and Design Goal

Time of Day Selector (Temporal Brushing)
Events Panel
5
Dot graph
Trail graph

• Provides a snapshot of the distribution and
  strength of enemy units at a particular time
  moment

• Provides a snapshot of how enemy units moved
  within a particular time interval

6
Spoke graph
Raster graph

• Functions like Trail Graph
• Spokes represent time at which a unit was spotted
  at location
• Allows estimation of moving speed
• Allows differentiation of overlapping units

• Rasters provide a snapshot of the state of the
  battlefield at a time moment
• Allows in-depth comparison of states of
  battlefield (eg. how units moved / split)

7
Stacked bar graph
Grouped links graph

• Events occurring at a location over a time
  interval are stacked (ie.ordered) in a bar
• Allows making inferences order, number of
  occurrence, recurrence and causality
  relationships of events

• Links are drawn to locations where events
  occurred over a time interval
• Links are grouped like spiders legs
• Conveys distribution of distinct event types
  across map very effectively

8
Calendar graph
Dynamic Calendar

• Events occurring in a particular time interval
  are plotted directly onto the calendar
• Calendar Graph provides a neat report of what
  events occurred and when and where they occurred
• Dynamic calendar mechanism is implemented to
  reduce space-wastage by calendar
• Calendar is able to show temporal information
  very well

9
Usability study
Student T-Test for two independent samples was
used
10
Usability study

• No difficulty experienced in using Clock Face GUI
• Positive responses given to Clock Face GUI in
  terms of aesthetics, ease-of-use, intuitiveness,
  feedback and usefulness
• Users found all 7 prototypes useful and
  informative but not necessarily intuitive or
  communicative at first sight
• At 95 confidence, users preferred Trail Graph to
  Dot Graph and Calendar Graph to Grouped Links
  Graph (in terms of informative-ness and
  usefulness)
• Users remained preference neutral for the other
  prototypes

11
Concluding remarks

• The work
• One novel time query GUI (Clock Face) and seven
  spatio-temporal data visualization prototypes
• Remarks
• GUI Design is challenging
• Visualization can be a subjective issue since
  different people may interpret the same graphical
  object differently