Designing a visualization system for hydrological data

The field of hydrology is, as any other scientific field, strongly affected by a massive technological evolution. The spread of modern information and communication technology within the last three decades has led to an incre ased collection, availability and use of spatial and temporal digital hydro logical data. In a two-year research period a working group in Muenster applied and devel oped methods for the visualization of digital hydrological data and the doc umentation of hydrological models. A low-cost multimedial, hydrological vis ualization system (HydroVIS) for the Weser river catchment was developed. T he research group designed HydroVIS under freeware constraints and tried to show what kind of multimedia visualization techniques can be effectively u sed with a nonprofit hydrological visualization system. The system's visual components include features such as electronic maps, temporal and nontempo ral cartographic animations, the display of geologic profiles, interactive diagrams and hypertext, including photographs and tables. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.