Visual exploration of high-dimensional spatial data: requirements and deficits

Suitable tools are needed to explore high-dimensional data spaces and to ga in insight into the underlying geoprocesses. Especially interactive, comput er-generated representations enrich our perception, so that complex phenome na can be comprehended intuitively. Although several helpful visualization techniques are available today, there is a growing demand for more advanced tools and strategies. The latter must ensure that techniques appropriate f or the nature of data and suitable for the objectives are applied throughou t the whole data exploration process. This paper outlines the deficits of e xisting software and requirements for future visualization environments, fo cusing on the exploration branch in geoscientific visualization. (C) 2000 E lsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.