Developing visualization techniques for improved information comprehension and reduced cognitive workload

Abstract

In today's data rich environments, enormous quantities of digital information can now be collected and made available to end-users in a wide variety of domains. With so much information now readily accessible, effective display methods that integrate and make sense of the data are needed; otherwise end-users may quickly become overwhelmed. HF Designworks, Inc. and Alion Science & Technology have developed tools that leverage large quantities of information to provide useful visualizations to the warfighter. This paper describes the approach and results of two related projects, iWarrior and My Heat Maps, where we provide end-users with deep data comprehension without imposing cognitive overload. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.