A General Framework for Using Aggregation in Visual Exploration of Movement Data

To be able to explore visually large amounts of movement data, it is necessary to apply methods for aggregation and summarization of the data. The goal of our research has been to systemize the possible approaches to aggregation of movement data into a framework clearly defining what kinds of exploratory tasks each approach is suitable for. On the basis of a formal model of movement of multiple entities, we consider two possible views of movement data, situation-oriented and trajectory-oriented. For each view, we discuss the appropriate methods of data aggregation and the visualization techniques representing the results of aggregation and supporting data exploration. A special attention is given to dynamic aggregation working in combination with interactive filtering and classification of movement data.