As the ITRC programme progresses and approaches the mid-term review stage, in June and July of 2013, the of the work stream 1 (WS1) infrastructure capacity and demand modelling teams are beginning to produce outputs from their next round of modelling. Furthermore, the parallel development of spatial infrastructure networks as part of work stream 2 (WS2), is beginning to raise some significant challenges in terms of appropriate and effective data dissemination, communication and interpretation. The underlying high-dimensionality nature of the data being produced as part of WS1 for example, coupled with the complexity of the networks generated as part of WS2 means the consortium as a whole needs to begin to think about appropriate mechanisms to visualise these data. For example, some initial prototypes of possible visualisation tools are beginning to be developed, (see here), but rather than build and design tools from the perspective of one researcher, it was considered more appropriate to consult with, other similar projects who are visualising similar data, or will require the ability to visualise similar data in similar ways to that required of ITRC, and also a host of visualisation and design experts from around the UK to gain better perspectives.
An initial workshop, organised by ITRC members, Dr Alex Otto (ITRC WS1 investigator), Dr Greg McInerny (Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford), Mr David Alderson (Researcher in GeoInformatics, Newcastle University), Dr Stuart Barr (Senior Lecturer in Geographic Information Science, Newcastle University) and Miriam Mendes (ITRC Programme Manager, University of Oxford), sought to bring together relevant researchers from the plethora of Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate (ARCC) network projects and leading researchers and experts in the field of data visualisation and design. Prior to the workshop, a questionnaire was distributed to both the invited ARCC project representatives and the visualisation experts in an attempt to give the organising team a better centralised perspective of what the respective groups would want to hope to gain by attending the workshop. The responses were then studied to tease out any overlaps between visualisation challenges faced across the ARCC projects, to attempt to collate a set of discussion points upon which to focus discussions in the afternoon of the workshop. Prior to these more focussed discussion sessions, the workshop initially allowed the ARCC project representatives to briefly (in 5 minutes or less) explain the nature of the project in which they are working, but also describe and explain some of the visualisation challenges being faced within that project. The aim of this early session was to allow the visualisation experts time to understand the background of the projects themselves, and also the nature of some of the data being produced, such that the more focussed discussions taking place in the afternoon had a little context.
From the responses to the questionnaire, and also following the morning’s ARCC project overview session, a series of 5 discussion topics were devised, that attempted to encapsulate the common visualisation challenges across all the projects, and are listed below.
- Visualising multiple dimensions and scenarios;
- Chair: Martino Tran (ITRC – University of Oxford)
- Rapporteur: Craig Mills (Visualisation – UN)
- The spatial dynamics of infrastructure networks;
- Chair: Scott Thacker (ITRC – University of Oxford)
- Rapporteur: Martin Austwick (Visualisation – UCL)
- Temporal visualisation of infrastructure behaviour and response;
- Chair: Sean Wilkinson (RESNET – Newcastle University)
- Rapporteur: Min Chen (Visualisation – University of Oxford)
- Simplifying and communicating effectively complex model outputs;
- Chair: Jason Dykes (Visualisation – City University, London)
- Rapporteur: Scott Kelly (ITRC – Cambridge University)
- Multi-disciplinary co-production for infrastructure visualisation.
- Chair: Simon Blainey (ITRC – University of Southampton)
- Rapporteur: Jane Lewis (Reading e-Science Centre, University of Reading)
A chair and rapporteur, selected from the list of workshop attendees was devised such that each topic had a representative from the ARCC network, and from the visualisation community. Each topic was then discussed by attendees for about 10 minutes, with the chairs and rapporteurs capturing the salient points discussed around that particular topic. After 10 minutes of discussion the attendees subsequently moved on to the next discussion topic and a different table. Overall as a format for delivering break out sessions, this quick-fire, round-robin approach seemed to work well, allowing all attendees to discuss all the common discussion topics about visualisation, whilst at the same time having the discussions steered and reported by representation from both sides. The approach also seemed to help stimulate discussions between project representatives and visualisation experts, which was one of the objectives or organising and delivering the workshop. However further work is currently being undertaken to transform some of the excellent discussions in to a positioning paper with respect to visualising high dimensionality data for infrastructure planning and provision purposes. It is hoped that representatives from the projects, particularly those organising the workshop and on the ITRC side will be looking to further engage and collaborate with the visualisation community. Watch this space…
Links to presentations split by those relevant to different communities are listed below:
- ARCC Projects presentations and speakers listed below
- Visualisation / Designers presentations and speakers listed below:
- Greg McInerny – Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford – Presentation
- Min Chen – Oxford e-Research Centre, University of Oxford – Presentation
- Craig Mills – United Nations Environment Center – Presentation
- Jane Lewis – Reading E-Science Centre, Reading University – Presentation
- Jason Dykes – School of Informatics, City University London – Presentation
Full Attendee List
ARCC Project-affiliated attendees (* speaker on visualisation challenges)
| ARCC Project | Representative | Affiliation |
| ITRC | Alex Otto* | University of Oxford |
| ITRC | Stuart Barr* | Newcastle University |
| ITRC | David Alderson | Newcastle University |
| ITRC | Raghav Pant | University of Oxford |
| ITRC | Scott Thacker | University of Oxford |
| ITRC | Jim Hall* | University of Oxford (Principal Investigator – ITRC) |
| ITRC | Miriam Mendes | University of Oxford (Programme Manager – ITRC) |
| ITRC | Simon Abele | University of Oxford |
| ITRC | Alex Leathard | Newcastle University |
| ITRC | Meysam Qadrdan | Cardiff University |
| ITRC | Modassar Chaudry | Cardiff University |
| ITRC | Simon Blainey | University of Southampton |
| ITRC | Kate Young | University of Oxford |
| Transport Utilities’ Conversion Points (TUCP) | Liz Varga* | Cranfield University |
| All-in-One | Tomasz Janus | De Montfort University, Leicester |
| Undermining Infrastructure | Jonathan Busch* | University of Leeds |
| Land of the MUSCos | Christof Knoeri* | University of Leeds |
| Step-change | Miles Tight* | University of Birmingham |
| RESNET | Sean Wilkinson* | Newcastle University |
Visualisation / Design Experts (presentations and speakers listed below):
| Greg McInerny | University of Oxford, Microsoft Research |
| Min Chen | University of Oxford |
| Craig Mills | United Nation Environmental Program World Conservation Monitoring Centre |
| Jason Dykes | City University, London |
| Jane Lewis | Reading e-Science Centre, University of Reading |
Other invited attendees:
| Vicky Hayman | UK Climate Impact Projections, University of Oxford |
| Chris Cooper | IBM, London |
| David Miller | IBM, London |
| Mathew Carlos | University of Oxford |
| Zoe Austin | University of York |
| Martin Austwick | UCL |
| Craig Robson | Newcastle University |
| Glenn Hart | Ordnance Survey |
| Paula Engelbrecht | Ordnance Survey |
| Andrew Munslow | Met Office |
