The Data Visualization Research Lab (DVRL) has the goal of carrying out research into advanced interactive visualization. The lab has a special interest in techniques that can be applied to ocean mapping and ocean technologies in general. There are three broad strategies of research carried out.

The Science of Data Visualization (experimental semiotics)

A major part of former lab director Colin Ware’s research has been grounding data visualization in theories of human perception and cognition. This approach provides theories of what makes visualizations effective thinking tools.

In addition to the theoretical approach, we also create optimized and experimentally validated visualizations for clients such as NOAA. If you need a high quality representation of some data for the web or another purpose, please contact us.

Tool Building

The VisLab builds proof of concept tools to push forward the state of the art in interactive data visualizing. Our tools to time-varying geospatial data (GeoZui4D and TrackPlot), flow patterns (FlowVis2D, SkyTouch), networks (MEGraph). If you think you might need a new interactive visualization tool we may be able to help.

Visualizations for Education and Outreach

A third purpose of the VisLab is to create innovative visualization for educational purposes. A prime example of this is the visualization of global ocean currents that appears on Science on a Sphere in the Sant Oceans Hall of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.

The lab director is Thomas Butkiewicz .