Turning Pictures into Numbers: Extracting and Generating Information From Complex Visualizations

Abstract

We present a study of complex visualization usage by expert meteorological forecasters. We performed a protocol analysis and examined the types of visualizations they examined. We present evidence for how experts are able to make use of complex visualizations. Our findings suggest that users of complex visualizations create qualitative mental models from which they can then generate quantitative information. In order to build their qualitative mental models, forecasters integrated information across multiple visualizations and extracted primarily qualitative information from visualizations in a goal-directed manner. We discuss both theoretical and practical implications of this study.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA480615

Entities

People

  • J. Gregory Trafton
  • James A. Ballas
  • Paula D. Raymond
  • Robert T. Miyamoto
  • Susan S. Kirschenbaum
  • Ted L. Tsui

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Applied Psychology
  • Cognition
  • Cognitive Science
  • Cognitive Systems Engineering
  • Computer Programming
  • Computers
  • Graphical User Interface
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Human-Machine Interaction
  • Meteorology
  • Military Research
  • Physical Properties
  • Psychology
  • Task Performance And Analysis
  • User Interface
  • Visualizations
  • Weather Forecasting

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.