SandExplorer: Exploring Geospatial Data, Grain by Grain

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce SandExplorer: a device to physically explore geospatial data by creating a 2.5-dimensional, topographic sand sculpture. This sculpture is created semi-manually, by moving a handle over a sandbox, which serves as a plotting canvas. The sandbox' shape represents the geospatial region the data is about. The amount of sand flowing from the system's sand reservoir through the handle is regulated by a mapping algorithm, depending on the underlying data. Using SandExplorer, users can playfully create a sand-based, physical yet malleable representation of the data.