Are Tiled Display Walls Needed for Astronomy?

Abstract

Clustering commodity displays into a Tiled Display Wall (TDW) provides a cost-effective way to create an extremely high resolution display, capable of approaching the image sizes now generated by modern astronomical instruments. Many research institutions have constructed TDWs on the basis that they will improve the scientific outcomes of astronomical imagery. We test this concept by presenting sample images to astronomers and non-astronomers using a standard desktop display (SDD) and a TDW. These samples include standard English words, wide field galaxy surveys and nebulae mosaics from the Hubble telescope. Our experiments show that TDWs provide a better environment than SDDs for searching for small targets in large images. They also show that astronomers tend to be better at searching images for targets than non-astronomers, both groups are generally better when employing physical navigation as opposed to virtual navigation, and that the combination of two non-astronomers using a TDW rivals the experience of a single astronomer. However, there is also a large distribution in aptitude amongst the participants and the nature of the content also plays a significant role in success.

Collaborative Workspaces to Accelerate Discovery

“…The successful use of a TDW as part of a collaborative workspace was consistent with the findings of Meade et al (2014): physical movement of the eyes, head and/or whole body was deemed preferable to using a keyboard and/or mouse to pan and zoom. There are several benefits to this approach:…”

“…By construction, Meade et al (2014) used an artificial context that resembled a research activity from astronomy: visual inspection of an image looking for known types of objects in unknown locations. However, it also identified another context in which a TDW might be useful: parallel inspection of many images, as opposed to a single extremely large image.…”

“…Meade et al (2014) consider some of these possibilities, while also testing the assumption that a display environment such as a tiled display wall (TDW) can actually improve research outcomes.…”

Exploratory visualization of astronomical data on ultra-high-resolution wall displays

“…As observed by Meade et al: "As valuable as automatic analyses of these enormous datasets are, astronomy still relies heavily on visual inspection". 25 We believe that ultra-walls can be especially interesting for such tasks, especially those that involve astronomical surveys, as ultra-walls make it possible to visualize a significantly larger field of view at the same level of detail than a desktop workstation. For instance, the results of data mining algorithms can be visualized on the wall, which will make visual inspection (finding the most promising sources, removing false positives, etc.)…”

“…A recent study by Meade et al 25 hints at the usefulness of ultra-walls for astronomers. A precursor to our work, the WeSpace 26 project provided astronomers with a shared workspace to conduct co-located collaborative work sessions.…”