There and then: interacting with spatio-temporal visualization

Interactivity plays a crucial role in Information Visualization (InfoVis). Together with the visual representation, interaction allows the user to implicitly form mental models of the relationships within the data, identify patterns, and pursue analysis hypotheses. To make the most of it, it is vital to fully understand what opportunities and limitations interactivity arise in different contexts. Spatio-temporal (ST) data sets are often extensive and challenging to analyze and display. Although inter-action is essential to mitigate the inherent challenges concerning ST visualization, there has been little research on its specificities. In this paper, we scrutinize these specificities by conducting a case study: we applied a generic interaction taxonomy for InfoVis to 25 examples of ST visualization of reference and performed the necessary adjustments towards a new specialized taxonomy, according to the triad Theme, Time and Space.