GeoVisual analytics, time to focus on time

Abstract

This issue of Information Visualization showcases research activities related to dealing with time in geovisual analytics. It represents a selection of the contributions made to a dedicated scientific workshop coordinated by the International Cartographic Association (ICA) Commission on Geovisualization. Theoretical and methodological approaches to exploring and analyzing large complex datasets with spatial and temporal components were presented, discussed, and developed at the meeting entitled ‘‘GeoVisual analytics, time to focus on time’’ in Columbus, Ohio, which was held on 18 September 2012, one day before the GIScience 2012 conference. The high levels of interest raised by the workshop indicate that this theme is very important and that many scientists and research teams are occupied with the challenges that it raises. This corresponds to the growing interest in time-referenced data in information visualization and visual analytics research. It also indicates that spatiotemporal data pose plenty of research problems. Most of these are complex and addressing them effectively requires cross-disciplinary approaches. This has been reflected not only in the contents of the submissions but also in the composition of the workshop attendees, including participants with backgrounds in geography, geographic information science, information visualization, and knowledge discovery. Geospatial visual analytics has a tendency to emphasize the spatial components of geographic information. At this workshop, we encouraged approaches that integrate visualization with data mining, database processing, optimization, and other computational methods for utilizing and emphasizing the temporal characteristics of geographic information in rich, novel, and useful ways—‘‘it’s time to focus on time.’’ The workshop was continued in a series of successful Commission workshops on