An Approach to Modeling Spatial Perception for Geovisualization

The amount and intensity of geographic information make it complicated to perform geographic data management and spatial analysis. In this paper we propose a novel approach exploring technical and perceptual issues in reducing information intensity; especially in the representation of geographic information. Foveation is a perceptually lossless degradation of the intensity of visual information. We apply established foveation algorithms on georeferenced raster and vector data sets and obtain visualizations in the form of foveated stereoscopic gaze contingent displays. Our concept is called as Geofoveation, and it is informed by vision research, computer graphics and geovisualization. In this paper, we discuss geofoveation as a means to demonstrate how spatial perception can be modeled and integrated into geographic visualizations. We hope to contribute to the discourse on intelligent geographic data management as well as provide initial steps to knowledge integration from certain aspects of spatial perception to geovisualization.