Visualizing climate change impact with ubiquitous spatial technologies

This paper further articulates the role of ubiquitous spatial technologies (e.g. Google Earth) as tools for analyzing, visualizing, and developing policy responses to predicted climate change impacts. Specifically, the efficiency and effectiveness of using the tools in the production of visualizations for the local level is studied. A brief background to climate change response reveals limited data and visualizations at the local level: ubiquitous spatial technologies can potentially fill the void. Case study data including temperature, rainfall and land suitability information from southwest Victoria (Australia) are used to test the hypothesis. The research team produced thirty short visualizations using minimal time, resources and a moderate skill base. The effectiveness of the visualizations was tested on a diverse group of stakeholders. It was found that the visuals provided contextual information and understandings of overarching climate change trends, however, integration with other datasets and higher levels of detail are required if the platform is to be used as a stand alone policy development tool. Moreover, the need to further develop design guidelines to guard against, or at least inform users about visual sensationalism is required.