Special Issue "Geovisual Analytics"

Guest Editor
Dr. Brian M. Tomaszewski
Department of Information Sciences and Technologies, Rochester Institute of Technology, One Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
Website: http://people.rit.edu/bmtski/
E-Mail: bmtski@rit.edu
Phone: +1-585-475-2859
Interests: Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIS&T); geovisual analytics; context modeling and representation; crisis management

Dear Colleagues,

The continued proliferation of massive volumes of geographic data and information coupled with complex, multi-scale problems is necessitating the need for new analytic approaches and problem solving tools such as those offered by the field of Geovisual Analytics. The following quote taken from Tomaszewski et al. (2007:173) describes Geovisual Analytics:

This special issue is thus interested in reporting Geovisual Analytics research that advances understanding of following topics that include, but are not limited to:

• Using sense making, cognition, and perception as foundations for tools that support reasoning for complex tasks
• Addressing issues of analytical scale and the interplay between complexity and urgency that dictates and determines the scale
• Synthesizing different types of information from different sources into unified representations to find meaning
• Integrating views of large-scale information spaces, coordinated views of information in context, and overviews and details
• Leveraging innate human abilities to reason about time and space
• Evaluating the usability and utility of Geovisual Analytic systems
• Geovisual Analytic computational methods

Geovisual Analytic application case studies and best practice submissions are also encouraged.

Brian M. Tomaszewski
Guest Editor

References:
Thomas, J. J. & Cook, K. A. 2005. Illuminating the Path: The Research and Development Agenda for Visual Analytics, Los Alametos, CA, IEEE.
Tomaszewski, B., Robinson, A. C., Weaver, C., Stryker, M. & Maceachren, A. M. Year. Geovisual Analytics and Crisis Management. In: B. VAN DE WALLE, BURGHARDT, P. & NIEUWENHUIS, C., eds. Proceedings of the 4th International Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM) Conference, 2007 Delft, the Netherlands. 173-179.

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Future Internet is an international peer-reviewed Open Access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 500 CHF (Swiss Francs). English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

• geovisual analytics
• geographic information
• geovisualization
• information visualization
• computational methods
• evaluation

Type of Paper: Article
Title: ViStaMPS: the Application for Viewing and Manipulating StaMPS Results
Authors: Joaquim J. Sousa^1,2 , Gil Cardoso¹ , Vitor Pereira¹ and Luis Magalhães¹
Affiliation: ¹ Department of Engineering, School of Science and technology, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal
²Center of Geology, University of Oporto, Portugal
Abstract: Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers InSAR implementation – StaMPS (http://radar.tudelft.nl/~ahooper/stamps/index.html) is widely used for ground deformation measurement and monitoring based on the processing of multi-temporal SAR data, mainly because of its proven
reliability and freeware distribution for scientific community. However, some issues may complicate the results interpretation: StaMPS supports data processing based on command prompt, which is uncomfortable for most users who need to know all the commands needed for the various existing operations. Besides, several visualization tasks are not implemented in the standard approach, requiring that each user has to develop its own code for visualization and interpretation purposes. On the other hand, results provided by StaMPS are sensitive to several parameters, but the procedure does not provide direct support for changing these parameters without rerunning some steps. In this paper we present ViStaMPS, a new graphical interface developed to enhance the visualization and the interpretation of StaMPS results.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Global Access and Controlled Ownership: VGI and the Changing Role of Geospatial Data in the Future Internet
Authors: Nate J. Engler ¹ and G. Brent Hall ²
Affiliations: ¹ Carleton University, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, Canada; E-Mail: nengler@connect.carleton.ca
² Esri Canada, 12 Concorde Pl., Suite 900, Toronto, Ontario M3C 3R8, Canada; E-Mail: bhall@esri.ca
Abstract: When the Internet was largely a unidirectional medium with information flowing from producers to consumers, the volume of information being produced was relatively low and the dynamics of interaction were limited by the prevailing architecture of the World Wide Web (Web). This changed abruptly approximately a decade ago when the architecture of participation that defines the social web (Web 2.0) was introduced. What previously were clearly defined roles have since become increasingly blurred and the distinction between digital information producers, consumers, and custodians is now far less clear. The Web 2.0 architecture has generated exponentially more numerous multidirectional flows of information across the Internet. In this new paradigm a Geospatial Web (Geoweb) has emerged largely through the voluntary contribution by so-called prosumers or produsers of spatially-referenced information to Web-based map repositories. The growth of the Geoweb has been so rapid it has superseded clarity and understanding in terms of the licencing and ownership of the information that is produced, voluntarily contributed and used. This paper discusses aspects of these issues in the context of two important questions, namely what are the benefits and consequences of geographical information that is voluntarily submitted to Web map repositories? And, can the present and future roles, rights, and responsibilities of contributors and data custodians be aligned to achieve an open geospatial digital commons?
Keywords: volunteered geographic information; network society; Geoweb; digital commons