EcoFlyer: Visualizing Geo-referenced Data with the Eco Flight Simulator

As part of the Environmental Informatics and Visualization Laboratory at UMass Boston, we are creating the Eco Flight Simulator – a system for visualizing landscape patterns, ecosystem processes and biodiversity data. Many state and federal agencies are currently gathering large amounts of spatial data via aerial photographs and satellite imagery that can be used for seeing the landscape (distribution and location of habitats, size of habitat fragments, the relationships among political and ecosystem boundaries), analyzing ecosystem processes (water cycling, nutrient cycling, pollution movement) and investigating biodiversity issues (habitat types, populations of invasive species, species interactions, etc.). One of the major challenges facing society today is understand the consequences of the human alteration of natural systems (Cohen 1995, Daily 1998, Lubchenco 1998, NRC 2001). By improving visualization, we can open the access of existing data sets to a far broader community. This will result in enhanced understanding of complex, inter-related processes and more informed decision-making by affected communities.