Exploring Shape Changing Interfaces for Geospatial and Migration Datasets

This project aims to design and evaluate shape-changing interfaces to facilitate the understanding of complex geospatial and migration datasets. Prior solutions offer a static or screen-based visualization that often fails to convey the multidimensional nature of these datasets in an engaging manner that, in turn, limits the users’ ability to navigate dynamic and contextual information effectively. We plan to build tactile and shape-changing interfaces that can physically represent data dimensions, such as migration flows, population density, and spatial-temporal factors, to offer an interactive experience to enhance users’ perception and comprehension of the data. Borrowing knowledge from prior research within the field of human-computer interaction and tangible interfaces, this project will create prototypes and conduct user studies to assess the efficacy of these novel interfaces in making geospatial and migration datasets more accessible and meaningful to potential users, including researchers and policymakers.

Faculty Supervisor:

Ali Mazalek

Student:

Partner:

University of Technology Sydney

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Education

University:

Toronto Metropolitan University

Program: