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Article

Considerations for Categorizing and Visualizing Numerical Information: A Case Study of Fire Occurrence Prediction Models in the Province of Ontario, Canada

by
Den Boychuk
1,*,
Colin B. McFayden
2,
Douglas G. Woolford
3,
Mike Wotton
4,5,
Aaron Stacey
6,
Jordan Evens
4,
Chelene C. Hanes
4,5 and
Melanie Wheatley
5
1
Aviation Forest Fire and Emergency Services, Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry, Sault Sainte Marie, ON P6A 6V5, Canada
2
Aviation Forest Fire and Emergency Services, Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry, Dryden, ON P8N 2Z5, Canada
3
Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada
4
Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Sault Sainte Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada
5
Graduate Department of Forestry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3B3, Canada
6
Aviation Forest Fire and Emergency Services, Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry, Peterborough, ON K9J 3C7, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Fire 2021, 4(3), 50; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4030050
Submission received: 18 June 2021 / Revised: 6 August 2021 / Accepted: 12 August 2021 / Published: 18 August 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wildfire Hazard and Risk Assessment)
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Abstract

Wildland fire management decision-makers need to quickly understand large amounts of quantitative information under stressful conditions. Categorization and visualization “schemes” have long been used to help, but how they are done affects the speed and accuracy of interpretation. Using traditional fire management schemes can unduly restrict the design of new products. Our design process for Ontario’s fine-scale, spatially explicit, daily fire occurrence prediction (FOP) models led us to develop guidance for designing new schemes. We show selected historical fire management schemes and describe our method. It includes specifying goals and requirements, exploring design options and making trade-offs. The design options include gradient continuity, hue selection, range completeness and scale linearity. We apply our method to a case study on designing the scheme for Ontario’s FOP models. We arrived at a smooth, nonlinear scale that accommodates data spanning many orders of magnitude. The colouring draws attention according to levels of concern, reveals meaningful spatial patterns and accommodates some colour vision deficiencies. Our method seems simple now but reconciles complex considerations and is useful for mapping many other datasets. Our method improved the clarity and ease of interpretation of several information products used by fire management decision-makers.
Keywords: colour coding; communication; forest fire; ordinal categorization; palette; risk; wildfire colour coding; communication; forest fire; ordinal categorization; palette; risk; wildfire

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MDPI and ACS Style

Boychuk, D.; McFayden, C.B.; Woolford, D.G.; Wotton, M.; Stacey, A.; Evens, J.; Hanes, C.C.; Wheatley, M. Considerations for Categorizing and Visualizing Numerical Information: A Case Study of Fire Occurrence Prediction Models in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Fire 2021, 4, 50. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4030050

AMA Style

Boychuk D, McFayden CB, Woolford DG, Wotton M, Stacey A, Evens J, Hanes CC, Wheatley M. Considerations for Categorizing and Visualizing Numerical Information: A Case Study of Fire Occurrence Prediction Models in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Fire. 2021; 4(3):50. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4030050

Chicago/Turabian Style

Boychuk, Den, Colin B. McFayden, Douglas G. Woolford, Mike Wotton, Aaron Stacey, Jordan Evens, Chelene C. Hanes, and Melanie Wheatley. 2021. "Considerations for Categorizing and Visualizing Numerical Information: A Case Study of Fire Occurrence Prediction Models in the Province of Ontario, Canada" Fire 4, no. 3: 50. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4030050

APA Style

Boychuk, D., McFayden, C. B., Woolford, D. G., Wotton, M., Stacey, A., Evens, J., Hanes, C. C., & Wheatley, M. (2021). Considerations for Categorizing and Visualizing Numerical Information: A Case Study of Fire Occurrence Prediction Models in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Fire, 4(3), 50. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4030050

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