Animation of Reliability in Computer-generated Dot Maps and Elevation Models

Visualization of reliability in spatial data has been the subject of considerable recent research activity. Animation has been suggested as one method to achieve this, and its application to various measures associated with class-area maps (classified satellite images and soil maps) has been discussed elsewhere. Animation is achieved by randomly selecting a location and then assigning it to a different map unit (cover or soil type) according to the information on the reliability associated with the original map or map units. In this article the same basic method is extended to mapping locational reliability in dot maps and surface error in a digital elevation model (DEM). In the former case, the dots, which are randomly located in the first place, are randomly relocated so that any meaningless positional information implicit in the location of the dots is lost while the meaningful information (the number of dots within a region) remains constant. In the DEM, animation uses a random field as an error surface, based upon the root mean squared error (RMSE). The amount of error at a location is constantly changed, giving no impression that the elevation is precisely known. The ability to vary the spatial autocorrelation within the error field provides a graphic illustration that the usual RMSE is not a sufficient method for the reporting of error in spatial databases. In both examples animation of reliability is believed to make a novel, but appropriate, use of the computer in cartography.