Abstract
Abstract. Arabesque is an application for the exploration and geovisualisation of origin-destination flows (or spatial networks), developed within the framework of the Univ. Gustave Eiffel (ex. IFSTTAR)-funded research project geographic flow visualisation (gflowiz) geoflowiz, in collaboration with the CNRS. It allows both the exploration and the filtering of OD data and their representation, with a strong emphasis on geographic information layering and features' semiology. The key-objective is to propose an easy way to produce a modern cartography (a geovisualisation) of thematic flows (e.g. bilateral flow volume), at several geographic scales, even from your own datasets. The objective of this article is to position Arabesque in the range of geoweb applications for producing flow maps, by comparing its functionalities with those of similar web applications – Magrit, Kepler.gl, flowmap.blue – pointing out their respective advantages and limitations. The analysis of its functionalities is compared on the same flow dataset – MOBSCO, i.e. a dataset describing the school mobility of French pupils and students on a given year – for a practical and empirical “validation” of its contributions. We demonstrate that the configurations and appearances of these tools’ visual output depend largely on the culture of their developers, and on the use and audiences for which they have been developed.
Highlights
Arabesque is a Web application for the exploration and geovisualisation of origin-destination (OD) flows
Its ongoing development since 2018 comes at the same time as several other new online flow mapping tools. These new online tools are part of the same family within the wider universe of existing IT solutions for mapping relational and origindestination data. Within this family of online tools, there is a certain variety: some are aimed at a wide range of users, and others are more specific and aimed at more specialised audiences
While many of the tools identified are based on open-source data-visualisation, mapping and geo-processing libraries, they do not all have the same degree of accessibility, as shown by Table 1. Among these 8 flow mapping web applications we identified for the study, only 4 are entirely free and open: Arabesque, Kepler.gl, Magrit, and Flowmap.blue
Summary
Arabesque is a Web application for the exploration and geovisualisation of origin-destination (OD) flows. Its ongoing development since 2018 comes at the same time as several other new online flow mapping tools. These new online tools are part of the same family within the wider universe of existing IT solutions for mapping relational and origindestination data. Within this family of online tools, there is a certain variety: some are aimed at a wide range of users, and others are more specific and aimed at more specialised audiences. The objective of this article is to position Arabesque in the range of geoweb applications for producing flow maps, by comparing its functionalities with those of comparable applications, pointing out their respective advantages and limitations
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