Rubber Sheet / Isosurfaces

Rubber Sheet / Isosurfaces



Given definitions:

Rubber Sheet: like a heat map, but used to map four or more dimensions, through the use of a colored, three dimensional surface.

Isosurfaces: maps of data that resemble topographic maps.

Values it represents: depth, altitude

encourages: comparison of height, general landscape

discourages: viewer's immediate understanding of precise numbers

Examples:

From left to right, top to bottom:

1. Underwater landscape of Lake Superior, Robbie and Kara Johnson- clear description of what the map is, details of surrounding places, addition of blue color quickly tells viewer that the map is of the underwater landscape

2. State topography- provides context of where the state is on top of providing the outline of the shape making it easier to identify what the map is of at first glance

3. 3D model of California- uses the actual map, takes into account the height of the surface as part of the distance between one point to another

4. Graph is labelled with percentages and title. It is easy to see at a glance the differences in heights

5. Clear, and the use of paper to show the storms makes sense

From left to right:

1. no description/indication of what it is or where it is of

2. 3D sculptural aspect might not be necessary since the pie chart is already divided into various sizes of sections. If there is a need to add a 3D element, it is not shown.

3. Difficult to understand the heights versus the areas.