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Improving Data Exploration and Decision-Making Involving Arctic Sea Ice Data

This is an ongoing project.

Changing climate conditions in the Arctic Sea have led to increased commercial activity in the region. Analysts interested in exploiting off-shore resources or mariners traversing potentially ice-bound waters rely on a number of data sources to assist their decision-making, including data from government webpages such as Canadian Sea Ice Service (CSIS) and National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Exploring Arctic Sea Ice data using webpage navigation can be extremely cognitively challenging, since users must mentally keep track of geospatially-related data across a number of different webpages.

Utilizing large- and small-format multi-touch displays may improve data analysis and decision-making through improved visualizations and more natural data interactions. Large-format displays also support collaborative data exploration by offering a large, sharable display surface. This research project explores the potential of digital tabletop displays used in conjunction with mobile multi-touch tablets to enhance data analysis and decision-making involving Arctic Sea Ice data. Specifically, two data exploration techniques involving these technologies are being investigated to understand the strengths and weakness of each technique for collaborative data analysis involving Arctic Sea Ice data.