Requirements for Reproducibility of Research in Situational and Spatio-Temporal Visualization : Position Paper

Research on spatio-temporal visualization is driven by the development of novel visualization and data aggregation techniques. Yet, only little research is conducted on the systematic evaluation of such visualizations. Evaluation of such technology is often conducted in real-life settings and thus lacks fundamental requirements for laboratory-based replication. Replication requires other researchers to independently conduct their own experiments to verify your results. In this position paper, we discuss the requirements for replication studies of spatio-temporal visualization systems. These requirements are often impossible to achieve for highly contextual visualizations such as spatio-temporal visualizations. We argue that reproducibility—allowing other researchers to validate your findings from your data—is a better aim for highly contextual visualizations. We provide a sample workflow to ensure reproducibility for spatio-temporal visualization and discuss its implications.