Examining geographic visualization as a technique for individual risk assessment

This research examined the extent to which geographic visualization might serve as a technique for assessing and understanding levels of personal risk. An exercise was created, consisting of a series of five animations, representing five historical flood events in flood-prone central Texas and displayed on an Internet site along with a survey questionnaire. Three questions guided this research: 1) To what extent can individuals correctly rank levels of intensities among five historical rainfall events, and, therefore levels of risk after viewing visualizations; 2) Does professional training and experience in a hazards-related field prove to be an advantage for correctly identifying and ranking levels of risk among the rainfall events after viewing visualizations; 3) Is prior experience with a flood, or any other hazard occurrence a factor in whether individuals can correctly assess levels of risk in visualizations depicting rainfall events? Our study demonstrated that computer-interested individuals are willing and able to access website information related to historical flood events, and interact with that website in viewing, interpreting and ranking computer animations of featured events; and, for the most part, regardless of prior experience, or workplace training, can, more or less, distinguish between levels of intensity of events. However, due to the fairly recent introduction of geographic visualization in hazards research, we call for more work in this area, and have offered an extensive list of research questions for assessing the viability of this technique for more accurate risk assessment and management at the individual level.

[1]  S. Tunstall,et al.  The risks from flooding: which risks and whose perception? , 1991, Disasters.

[2]  Alan M. MacEachren,et al.  Animation and the Role of Map Design in Scientific Visualization , 1992 .

[3]  Paul Slovic,et al.  The Social Amplification of Risk: The social amplification of risk: assessing fifteen years of research and theory , 2003 .

[4]  M. Monmonier.  Graphic Narratives for Analyzing Environmental Risks , 1994 .

[5]  R. Kasperson,et al.  The Social Amplification of Risk , 2003 .

[6]  Alberto Giordano,et al.  Geographic Information Technologies and the History of a Shoreline: The Case of Chapter 91 in New Bedford, Massachusetts , 2003 .

[7]  W. A. Anderson.  Disaster warning and communication processes in two communities. , 1969, The Journal of communication.

[8]  John W. Creswell,et al.  Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches , 2010 .

[9]  E A Crouch,et al.  Risk assessment and comparisons: an introduction. , 1987, Science.

[10]  B. Fischhoff,et al.  Risk Communication: A Mental Models Approach , 2001 .

[11]  Mark Monmonier,et al.  Cartographies of Danger: Mapping Hazards in America , 1997 .

[12]  M. Goodchild,et al.  Successful Response Starts with a Map: Improving Geospatial Support for Disaster Management , 2007 .

[13]  Dennis S. Mileti,et al.  The Great Earthquake Experiment: Risk Communication And Public Action , 1993 .

[14]  D. Wood.  How Maps Work , 1992 .

[15]  Cathy Moulder.  How Maps Work , 2009 .

[16]  B. Fischhoff,et al.  How safe is safe enough? A psychometric study of attitudes towards technological risks and benefits , 1978 .

[17]  Gilbert F. White,et al.  Assessment Of Research On Natural Hazards , 1975 .

[18]  Martin J. Eppler,et al.  A systematic framework for risk visualization in risk management and communication , 2009 .

[19]  Terry G. Jordan,et al.  Perceptual Regions in Texas , 1978 .

[20]  Keith Smith,et al.  Human adjustment to the flood hazard , 1979 .

[21]  Richard G. Lomax,et al.  An Introduction To Statistical Concepts For Education And Behavioral Sciences , 2000 .

[22]  M. Stone.  Information Visualization : Challenge for the Humanities , 2009 .

[23]  Colin Ware,et al.  Information Visualization: Perception for Design , 2000 .

[24]  M. J. Cook,et al.  Risk Communication and Public Education in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on the 10th Anniversary of the ‘Black Friday’ Tornado , 2004 .

[25]  Burton Al.  The environment as hazard , 1978 .

[26]  S. Cutter.  Environmental Risks and Hazards , 1993 .

[27]  John Krygier,et al.  Sound and Geographic Visualization , 1994 .

[28]  Mark Monmonier,et al.  Drawing the Line, Tales of Maps and Cartocontroversy , 1995 .

[29]  Bo Huang,et al.  Web-based dynamic and interactive environmental visualization , 2003, Comput. Environ. Urban Syst..

[30]  Judy M. Olson,et al.  Geography's Inner Worlds: Pervasive Themes in Contemporary American Geography , 1992 .

[31]  B. Fischhoff,et al.  Rating the Risks , 1979 .

[32]  Michael F. Goodchild,et al.  Gis and Environmental Modeling: Progress and Research Issues , 1996 .

[33]  Aileen R. Buckley.  GEOGRAPHIC VISUALIZATION , 1998 .

[34]  D. Mileti.  Disasters by Design: A Reassessment of Natural Hazards in the United States , 1999 .

[35]  Jon Eisenberg,et al.  Improving Disaster Management: The Role of IT in Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery , 2007 .

[36]  A. MacEachren.  Visualization in Modern Cartography: Setting the Agenda , 1994 .

[37]  S. Krimsky,et al.  Social Theories of Risk , 1992 .

[38]  Duane D. Baumann,et al.  Educational Programs and Human Response to Natural Hazards , 1983 .

[39]  Carla S. Prater,et al.  Introduction to Emergency Management , 2006 .

[40]  Eve Gruntfest,et al.  What We Have Learned Since the Big Thompson Flood , 1996 .

[41]  Alan M. MacEachren,et al.  Visualization in modern cartography , 1994 .

[42]  Technologies to Estimate Subnational Populations at Risk.  Tools and methods for estimating populations at risk from natural disasters and complex humanitarian crises , 2007 .

[43]  Ian Burton,et al.  The Perception of Natural Hazards in Resource Management , 1963 .

[44]  P. Slovic.  Perception of risk. , 1987, Science.

[45]  J. Carr.  The climate and physiography of Texas. , 1967 .

[46]  D. Taylor,et al.  Geographic Information Systems: The Microcomputer and Modern Cartography , 1991 .

[47]  Rd Blanchard-Boehm,et al.  Understanding Public Response to Increased Risk from Natural Hazards: Application of the Hazards Risk Communication Framework , 1998 .

[48]  Graham A. Tobin,et al.  Natural Hazards: Explanation and Integration , 1997 .