User Centered, Application Independent Visualization of National Airspace Data

This paper describes an application independent software tool, IV4D, built to visualize animated and still 3D National Airspace System (NAS) data specifically for aeronautics engineers who research aggregate, as well as single, flight efficiencies and behavior. IV4D was originally developed in a joint effort between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to support the visualization of air traffic data from the Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES) simulation program. The three main challenges tackled by IV4D developers were: 1) determining how to distill multiple NASA data formats into a few minimal dataset types; 2) creating an environment, consisting of a user interface, heuristic algorithms, and retained metadata, that facilitates easy setup and fast visualization; and 3) maximizing the user’s ability to utilize the extended range of visualization available with AFRL’s existing 3D technologies. IV4D is currently being used by air traffic management researchers at NASA’s Ames and Langley Research Centers to support data visualizations.