1 Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events PI: Robert Moorhead

2 Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events Team Members Phil Amburn, GRI, Associate Research Professor Derek Irby, GRI, Research Associate Jean Mohammadi-Aragh, GRI, Research Associate Robert Moorhead, GRI, ECE Dept., PI Jibo Sanyal, ECE, PhD student Kequn Wu, CSE, PhD student Song Zhang, GRI, CSE Dept., Assistant Professor

3 Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events Team Efforts Google Earth Target Audience: Non-technical Public Through a few simple mouse clicks on our web interface, a visitor can generate KML to investigate desired storm data in Google Earth - without ever writing a single line of KML. The web interface and Google Earth are platform independent. Triton II Target Audience: Scientists Triton II is a virtual realty demo that runs in MSU’s VERTEX facility. It overcomes different grids to combine meteorological and oceanographic data in one program, allowing for the exploration of storms as they progress from the ocean to land. Evenly Spaced Streamlines Target Audience: Scientists and the Public Evenly spaced streamlines are more than just “prettier pictures”; they ensure full coverage of all flow features, enabling a better understand of the flow from both a technical and non-technical point of view. Evenly spaced streamlines ensure majority, if not all, flow features are visible. vGeo Target Audience: Scientists We use vGeo in MSU’s VERTEX facility to navigate and interact with time varying, three-dimensional worlds created from a multitude of data sets including satellite imagery (remote sensing) and MM5 Model Output (atmospheric circulation, e.g., hurricane data). * Highlighted at the 2008 NGI Annual Conference

4 Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events Google Earth Examples Google Earth is already being used to visualize weather phenomena such as ocean currents, cloud cover, and flooding. However, the non-technical public, with no knowledge of programming or KML coding, is limited to visualizations someone else has already created.

5 Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events

6 Through a variety of drop down boxes, a visitor can select which data sets, variables, and visualization techniques they would like included in their KML. After selecting “Build KML”, the system generates their custom KML file which is previewed in Google Maps and can be loaded into Google Earth.

7 Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events AGAVE: A GoogleEarth Automated Visualization Environment Example: Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Lili Tracks

8 Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events AGAVE: A GoogleEarth Automated Visualization Environment Example: Colored columns to indicate Storm Surge Height (based on FEMA High Water Marks)

9 Visualization Techniques for Improving Public Understanding of Catastrophic Events AGAVE: A GoogleEarth Automated Visualization Environment Example: Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery overlay, with hurricane path and points of interest.