An Interactive Widget to Visualise the Allergy Symptoms of a Country A dissertation submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Master of Science in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences Deemah Alqahtani 2016 School of Computer Science Table of Contents Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... 2 List of Figures ................................................................................................................ 5 List of Tables ................................................................................................................. 8 Glossary of Terms .......................................................................................................... 9 Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 10 Declaration................................................................................................................... 11 Intellectual Property Statement ................................................................................... 12 Acknowledgement ....................................................................................................... 13 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 14 1.1 Aims and Objectives ................................................................................... 15 1.2 Report Structure .......................................................................................... 16 2 Background Research......................................................................................... 18 2.1 Overview ..................................................................................................... 18 2.2 Spatio-Temporal and Time Series Data on Maps........................................ 19 2.3 Visual Information Comparisons ................................................................ 21 2.4 The Visual Information Seeking Mantra ..................................................... 24 2.5 Summary ..................................................................................................... 26 3 Literature Analysis ............................................................................................. 27 3.1 Overview ..................................................................................................... 27 3.2 Examining Multivariate Time Series Data Visualisation Techniques ......... 27 3.2.1 Discussion .............................................................................................. 27 3.2.2 Comparison ............................................................................................ 31 3.3 Examining Cartesian and Polar Visualisation ............................................. 33 3.3.1 Discussion .............................................................................................. 33 3.3.2 Comparison ............................................................................................ 34 2 3.4 User Interaction Techniques ........................................................................ 37 3.5 Geo-Analysis Techniques............................................................................ 37 3.6 Research Questions ..................................................................................... 40 3.7 Summary ..................................................................................................... 41 4 Research Methods .............................................................................................. 42 4.1 Overview ..................................................................................................... 42 4.2 Methodology ............................................................................................... 42 4.2.1 Full Map ................................................................................................. 44 4.2.2 Small Multiples ...................................................................................... 45 4.3 Evaluation Methodology ............................................................................. 45 4.3.1 Usability Testing ..................................................................................... 46 4.3.2 Tasks and Metrics ................................................................................... 46 4.3.3 Experimental Design .............................................................................. 48 4.4 Summary ..................................................................................................... 48 5 Project Implementation ...................................................................................... 50 5.1 Overview ..................................................................................................... 50 5.2 Technology and Architecture ...................................................................... 50 5.3 Data ............................................................................................................. 52 5.4 Development Sprints ................................................................................... 54 5.4.1 Sprint One .............................................................................................. 55 5.4.1.1 Planning ........................................................................................... 55 5.4.1.2 Implementation ............................................................................... 55 5.4.1.3 Testing ............................................................................................. 60 5.4.2 Sprint Two .............................................................................................. 61 5.4.2.1 Planning ........................................................................................... 61 5.4.2.2 Implementation ............................................................................... 61 3 5.4.2.3 Testing ............................................................................................. 65 5.4.3 Sprint Three ............................................................................................ 66 5.4.3.1 Planning ........................................................................................... 66 5.4.3.2 Implementation ............................................................................... 66 5.4.3.3 Testing ............................................................................................. 69 5.4.4 Sprint Four .............................................................................................. 69 5.4.4.1 Planning ........................................................................................... 69 5.4.4.2 Implementation ............................................................................... 69 5.4.4.3 Testing ............................................................................................. 71 5.5 Summary ..................................................................................................... 71 6 Project Evaluation .............................................................................................. 72 6.1 Overview ..................................................................................................... 72 6.2 Demographics ............................................................................................. 72 6.3 Analysis and Results ................................................................................... 72 6.4 Summary ..................................................................................................... 78 7 Discussions ......................................................................................................... 79 7.1 Overview ..................................................................................................... 79 7.2 Analysis Interpretation ................................................................................ 79 7.3 Implications for Design ............................................................................... 82 7.4 Summary ..................................................................................................... 84 8 Conclusions and Future Work ............................................................................ 85 8.1 Conclusions ................................................................................................. 85 8.2 Limitations and Further Work ..................................................................... 86 9 References .......................................................................................................... 87 10 Appendix 1 ......................................................................................................... 93 Final word count: 18287 4 List of Figures Figure 1. Two types of health data and the result of their combination. ...................... 19 Figure 2. The ThemeRiver: A river representing theme changes through time [10]. ... 20 Figure 3. The TimeWheel for multivariate time-oriented data visualisation [11]. ....... 21 Figure 4. Two juxtaposed images of the same geographical area at different times [14]. ............................................................................................................................... 22 Figure 5. (Left) Superposition of two maps [15]. (Right) A map with Blending Lens [3]. ..............................................................................................................................