Piper B Ratti C., Ishii H.,

Abstract

The development of cheaper and faster computation and the multiplying effect of open source initiatives such as GRASS have led to an increasing sophistication is GIS landscape analysis algorithms. However, little research has focused on the design of the computer interface through which users interact with GIS simulations. The conventional interface comprising of screen, keyboard and mouse is used by default and as such has an enormous impact on the process of computational landscape analysis. This paper introduces Illuminating Clay, an alternative interface for manipulating and navigating landscape representations that has been designed according to the specific needs of the landscape analyst.