Quantitative Data Visualisation on Virtual Globes

Geographic data visualisation on virtual globes is intuitive and widespread, but has not been thoroughly investigated. We explore two main design factors for quantitative data visualisation on virtual globes: i) commonly used primitives (2D bar, 3D bar, circle) and ii) the orientation of these primitives (tangential, normal, billboarded). We evaluate five distinctive visualisation idioms in a user study with 50 participants. The results show that aligning primitives tangentially on the globe’s surface decreases the accuracy of area-proportional circle visualisations, while the orientation does not have a significant effect on the accuracy of length-proportional bar visualisations. We also find that tangential primitives induce higher perceived mental load than other orientations. Guided by these results we design a novel globe visualisation idiom, Geoburst, that combines a virtual globe and a radial bar chart. A preliminary evaluation reports potential benefits and drawbacks of the Geoburst visualisation.