12
Geographical Data Visualization on Mobile Devices
for User’s Navigation and Decision Support Activities
Stefano Burigat and Luca Chittaro
University of Udine, Udine (Italy)
12.1 Introduction
Users who operate in the field (e.g. maintenance personnel, geologists, archaeologists, tourists, first responders) often bring with them paper sheets (e.g. city maps,
forms, technical plans, object descriptions) containing data needed for their activities. Even when these data are available in digital form, the mobile condition of
these users makes them prefer more portable and manageable solutions (such as paper) to potentially more powerful and flexible ones (such as laptop computers). For
example, it is easier to handle and look at a paper map rather than a digital laptop
map while on the move. However, the increasing availability of small and powerful
mobile devices (PDAs and Smartphones) is opening up new opportunities. At first
devoted to manage user’s personal information, these devices can now be employed
to assist users in carrying out different tasks in the field.
Unfortunately, the design of effective applications for mobile scenarios cannot
rely on the traditional techniques devised for desktop applications due to a number
of issues:
• Data presentation and exploration on mobile devices are heavily affected by the
small size and resolution of displays. For example, displaying a map in its entirety to assist users in navigating a geographical area typically provides only an
overview without sufficient detail, while zoomed-in views provide more detail
but lose the global context. Thus, users are forced to perform panning and zooming operations, a process that is cognitively complex, disorienting, and tedious.
• The limited processing power of mobile devices restricts the amount of data
that can be managed locally and prevents the use of computationally expensive
algorithms. For example, 3D representations of geographical data (e.g. virtual
reproductions of terrain) are still uncommon on mobile devices, while they are
widely used in some desktop scenarios.
• Input peripherals of mobile devices heavily constrain the set of possible interface
designs. For example, keyboards (either physical or virtual) are limited in size
and/or number of keys, making it difficult to manually insert data.
Geographical Data Visualization on Mobile Devices
for User’s Navigation and Decision Support Activities
Stefano Burigat and Luca Chittaro
University of Udine, Udine (Italy)
12.1 Introduction
Users who operate in the field (e.g. maintenance personnel, geologists, archaeologists, tourists, first responders) often bring with them paper sheets (e.g. city maps,
forms, technical plans, object descriptions) containing data needed for their activities. Even when these data are available in digital form, the mobile condition of
these users makes them prefer more portable and manageable solutions (such as paper) to potentially more powerful and flexible ones (such as laptop computers). For
example, it is easier to handle and look at a paper map rather than a digital laptop
map while on the move. However, the increasing availability of small and powerful
mobile devices (PDAs and Smartphones) is opening up new opportunities. At first
devoted to manage user’s personal information, these devices can now be employed
to assist users in carrying out different tasks in the field.
Unfortunately, the design of effective applications for mobile scenarios cannot
rely on the traditional techniques devised for desktop applications due to a number
of issues:
• Data presentation and exploration on mobile devices are heavily affected by the
small size and resolution of displays. For example, displaying a map in its entirety to assist users in navigating a geographical area typically provides only an
overview without sufficient detail, while zoomed-in views provide more detail
but lose the global context. Thus, users are forced to perform panning and zooming operations, a process that is cognitively complex, disorienting, and tedious.
• The limited processing power of mobile devices restricts the amount of data
that can be managed locally and prevents the use of computationally expensive
algorithms. For example, 3D representations of geographical data (e.g. virtual
reproductions of terrain) are still uncommon on mobile devices, while they are
widely used in some desktop scenarios.
• Input peripherals of mobile devices heavily constrain the set of possible interface
designs. For example, keyboards (either physical or virtual) are limited in size
and/or number of keys, making it difficult to manually insert data.