Evaluating regional changes on the basis of local expectations: a visualization dilemma

Abstract Effective management of the large-scale environment demands visualization tools working at both large and small scale, displaying abstract processes in the landscape as well as concrete depictions of expected outcomes. Visualizations must be demonstrably accurate and valid, but they must also possess the realism and immediacy to move users to effect changes. This paper advocates a visualization equivalent of ‘think globally, act locally’. Visualization tools must be able to incorporate and represent detailed changes at a local level within the framework of coarse-grained data sets.