Tools for visualizing properties of spatial and temporal periodicity in geographic data

A suite of interactive visualization techniques are presented to explore a three-dimensional Fourier transformation of a geographic time series that decomposes geographical time series data into coherent spatial and temporal periodicities that may be otherwise diAcult to observe.

Abstract

Exploration of complex spatio-temporal environmental data demands creative methods of analysis. We present a suite of interactive visualization techniques to explore a three-dimensional Fourier transformation of a geographic time series. Such a transformation decomposes geographic time series data into coherent spatial and temporal periodicities that may be otherwise difficult to observe. The tools reported herein facilitate the exploration of three-dimensional representations of both physical and spectral space. These visualization techniques are demonstrated using both idealized and real-world environmental space–time data. Using the tools described, a user may explore existing hypotheses as well as generate new insights into environmental process. Because the spatial and temporal parameters of the phenomena under investigation are not necessarily predetermined, exploration of the data itself using the techniques described in this paper can drive the phenomena definition. Ultimately, this technique may lead to insight concerning the behavior of a given environmental phenomenon over a variety of scales, or indicate appropriate spatial and temporal scales for further analysis.