Results of a user study on 2D hurricane visualization

Authors:
Joel P. Martin;J. Edward Swan;Robert J. Moorhead;Zhanping Liu;Shangshu Cai
Affiliations:
GeoResources Institute, Mississippi State University;GeoResources Institute and Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Mississippi State University;GeoResources Institute and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mississippi State University;GeoResources Institute, Mississippi State University;GeoResources Institute and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mississippi State University
Venue:
EuroVis'08 Proceedings of the 10th Joint Eurographics / IEEE - VGTC conference on Visualization
Year:
2008

Citing 2
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Abstract

We present the results from a user study looking at the ability of observers to mentally integrate wind direction and magnitude over a vector field. The data set chosen for the study is an MM5 (PSU/NCAR Mesoscale Model) simulation of Hurricane Lili over the Gulf of Mexico as it approaches the southeastern United States. Nine observers participated in the study. This study investigates the effect of layering on the observer's ability to determine the magnitude and direction of a vector field. We found a tendency for observers to underestimate the magnitude of the vectors and a counter-clockwise bias when determining the average direction of a vector field. We completed an additional study with two observers to try to uncover the source of the counter-clockwise bias. These results have direct implications to atmospheric scientists, but may also be able to be applied to other fields that use 2D vector fields.