Challenging problems of geospatial visual analytics

Abstract

Introduction Visual analytics aims at combining the strengths of human and electronic data processing. This is achieved by means of visualization and interactive visual interfaces, which allow humans and computers to converse and cooperate (Keim et al. 2008). Visual analytics is conceived as a multidisciplinary research field in which scientists specializing in information visualization, scientific visualization, and geographic visualization closely cooperate with researchers from analytical disciplines, such as statistical analysis and modeling, machine learning and data mining, and geographical analysis and modeling, on developing new approaches to solving complex problems faced by the modern society. Geovisual analytics (or geospatial visual analytics) deals with problems involving geographical space and various objects, events, phenomena, and processes populating it. Since most of the things populating space occur or change in time, geovisual analytics must give proper attention to time and relationships between space and time.