NACIS 2016

Challenges and opportunities in mapping the North American hazardous waste trade
Eric Nost, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Heather Rosenfeld, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Kristen Vincent, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sarah Moore, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Tanya Buckingham, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Robert E. Roth, University of Wisconsin-Madison
HazMatMapper is an interactive map designed to facilitate exploration of transnational flows of hazardous waste in North America (http://geography.wisc.edu/hazardouswaste/map). Conventional narratives emphasize that wealthier countries export waste to poorer ones, overlooking how marginalized communities within wealthier countries may be exposed to hazards. To move beyond this limitation, we assembled a novel geographic dataset from documents held by the US EPA describing over 18,000 shipments of waste made between 2007 and 2012 to US processing facilities. Within shipping documents, waste was labeled and tracked inconsistently, creating multiple layers of uncertainty. We confronted this uncertainty first by organizing a design challenge, in which student teams were given a day to produce first-draft maps of the waste trade. From this, we developed HazMatMapper. Finally, we have started development on an ecosystem of visual stories that flexibly combine views from HazMatMapper with other web visualizations to cultivate localized and personalized stories about waste's impacts.
View Slides »


Effects of map and augmented reality views of flood risk on concern about climate change
David Retchless, Texas A&M University at Galveston
Research has shown that people with direct experience of flooding also tend to express more concern about climate change. One explanation for this increase in concern is that such direct experience decreases the psychological distance of climate change, making it more tangible and concrete by relating it to one's immediate physical environment. However, research in this area has not considered whether mediated experience delivered through geospatial visualizations of local flooding can similarly affect concern about climate change, or how these effects may vary with the scale or distance of the geovisualization. Accordingly, I consider how varying scale and distance in map and augmented reality views of flood risk data affects both perceptions of this flood risk and associated concern about climate change.
View Slides »

Towards Cartographic Standards for Web-Based Flood Hazard Maps
Eben Dennis, Icon Engineering, Inc.
Robert Soden, University of Colorado
Online, interactive web-maps are rapidly becoming important tools in the communication of flood hazards and the visualization of risk information more generally. Although there is a wealth of study and information available guiding the design of traditional cartographic products, there is comparatively little research available that is solely focused on web-mapping formats. This presentation will discuss initial findings of ongoing research being conducted in partnership between Icon Engineering and the University of Colorado, Boulder. Outcomes of the work will lead towards the development of design heuristics and best practices for visualizing flood data through interactive web-mapping products.
View Slides »

Mapping Uncertain Census Data for Urban Planners
Amy Griffin, UNSW Canberra
Jason Jurjevich, Portland State University
Meg Merrick, Portland State University
Seth Spielman, Colorado University Boulder
David Folch, Florida State University
Nicholas Nagle, University of Tennessee-Knoxville
The introduction of the American Community Survey has led to more timely but less certain demographic estimates in the United States, particularly for small areas like census tracts or block groups or for population subgroups. This makes it more important than ever for the end users of the data to understand and account for uncertainty when using the data to make decisions. Here, we report the results of a user experiment with urban planners that compared two different designs for communicating uncertainty in maps of demographic estimates. We show that different designs may be warranted when map readers are either familiar or unfamiliar with the mapped area.

View Slides »