Immersive Analytics for Understanding Ecosystem Services Data

Planning land use changes requires input from experts across several domains with diverse expertise. Currently available tools were not designed for analysing the required ecosystem services before and after land use changes, or for analysing tradeoffs. Our study is motivated by the need for better tools designed for expert analysts and location knowledgable stakeholders to analyse data relating to land use planning, such as ecosystem services data. The effectiveness of an immersive VR visualization system (Immersive ESS Visualizer) for analysing and visualizing ecosystem services data, is evaluated and compared to existing methods of analysis, paper maps and a 2D screen. Although VR presented some difficulties, the benefits of spatially arranging maps, inspecting fine details, navigation by zooming, and inspection of hillshades provided sufficient advantages to make VR an effective tool for ecosystem services analysis. Participants using Immersive ESS Visualizer arranged handheld maps into 3D layouts, which would not be possible with paper or on the 2D screen. Our research demonstrates that geospatial analysis can be supported by comparative visualization in VR.