Interactive 3D Web Applications for Visualization of World Health Organization Data

Abstract

This paper describes the design and implementation of an interactive web application titled "3DImpact" that accesses World Health Organization (WHO) data, in conjunction with geographic location based data, and using WebGL based 3D graphics visualizes the resulting information. The information is presented in the form of a 3D globe highlighting, through responsive 3D animation, the time based dataset targeted. The application was designed with the intention of being usable as a generic web visualization tool, to take WHO information, across a range of topics and present that to the web user in an interactive 3D form. An experimental trial of 31 participants was carried out and involved each participant using three different forms of web-based presentation of WHO data. These forms included the Control - raw statistical data (numbers and tables), 2DChart --2D map based chart of data, and the 3DImpact interactive 3D globe. The results from the experimental trial indicated that the 3DImpact interactive visualization was statistically significantly rated as more engaging and more informative than either of the other systems. Users highlighted the 3D nature of the information (world health data being presented on a globe of the world) as a significant feature but also highlighted the fact that the use of depth in the 3D tool allowed them to more easily see locations where there were significant spikes in impact and this advantage appeared to play a key role in the 3D tools preference over its flat 2D counterparts. These results indicate that the use of 3D web based applications for the visualization of world health data, in differing fields through the reusable nature of the tool, offer the potential to enhance the users interaction with the data.