PRINCIPLES OF BETTER GEO-IMAGERY (Invited Presentation)

A good geological image (figure, graph, photo) conveys information efficiently to other people. Visualizing geoscience is useful not only to consumers of geoscience information, but the act of visualization also benefits the creator of the imagery. Mindful geovisualization can be an insightful practice, and the results can be beautiful manifestations of scientific reality. Characteristics of excellent geoimages include a good composition, being trimmed of distracting chartjunk, featuring useful annotations as well as thoughtful choices of color, line weight, and font, and a reliance on a minimum of abstraction/coding. Excellent geofigures should be designed for efficacy among readers/viewers with color vision deficiency, and tested with color blindness simulation software. Geological field photos should be suitably composed (and cropped, if necessary), evenly lit, with clean outcrops and a sense of scale that ideally is both quantitative and qualitative. In the modern era, we are not limited to static images, printed in a few square images on a piece of paper; The digital realm allows easy exploration of super-high-resolution imagery and 3D models, and these media can be used to build virtual field experiences for education and outreach. Collectively, best practices in geovisualization result in elegant pictures that engage readers/viewers and encourage the flow of geoscience insights.

In this talk, we will critique dozens of examples of geoimagery, including some exemplars of true #geoviz awesomeness and several real stinkers. All have lessons to teach us - prompts to make us more effective geovisualizers.