Exploring Eye Movement Patterns on Cartographic Animations Using Projections of a Space-Time-Cube

TLDR: A new analysis method is suggested which applies Hägerstrand’s Space-Time-Cube (STC) to eye movement data, which uses two-dimensional projections of the STC onto the XT and YT planes to facilitate rapid identification of significant patterns in the data set.

Abstract: Analysis of eye movements has been used for decades as a method for assessing the performance of visual stimuli. Until recently, this has mainly been applied to static and non-cartographic stimuli, but due to technological developments and reduced cost of equipment, interactive and cartographic applications are now feasible. suggest a new analysis method which applies Hagerstrand’s Space-Time-Cube (STC; ) to eye movement data. However, in an interactive three-dimensional STC, identifying and exploring key behaviours can be difficult. In order to ameliorate these difficulties, we propose a variation of the STC method, which uses two-dimensional projections of the STC onto the XT and YT planes. These two-dimensional projections are found to facilitate rapid identification of significant patterns in the data set. A prototype implementing this and other dynamical methods has been developed, and is presented with examples illustrating the benefits of working with two-dimensional projections of the STC.