Computer-Aided Visualization in Meteorology

work “out of context,” but how cognitive engineering might help weather forecasters, in particular, remain within familiar decision-making spaces by improving on their display technology. Ballas (chap. 13, this volume) makes it clear how weather forecasting, as a workplace, is a constantly moving target by virtue of continual change in displays and data types. Since weather maps were invented around 1816, meteorological data visualization has gone through many dramatic changes (Monmonier, 1999). Weather maps are now displayed and manipulated by computer, even though hand chart work is still generally regarded as a critical activity in the forecaster’s trade (see Hoffman & Markman, 2001). Most weather forecasters get data, charts, and satellite images from Internet sources including the World Wide Web. In this chapter, we discuss some of what we know about how weather forecasters use information technology to display and support the interpretation of complex meteorological visualizations. Based on notions of human-centered computing (HCC), we offer some suggestions on how to improve the visualizations and tools. Norman (1993) offered design guidance that would (hopefully) ensure human-centeredness. Ideally, such guidance should be applied throughout the entire design process, but this does not always happen. In the case of weather forecasting, some of the ways of representing data (such as windbarbs or iso-pressure lines) were standardized long ago. Ingrained traditions in meteorological symbology and display design force one to keep in mind Chapter 15