Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance
Visualization
The visualization techniques in SADA are simple to use, easy to understand,
and facilitate the data exploration, modeling, and decision analysis components
present in SADA.
SADA provides a number of methods for the exploration of environmental data that is categorized
by depth during remedial
investigations (generally soil and groundwater). Data exploration tools include two- and three-dimensional
data visualization options. Two-dimensional information is presented as simple xy plots.
Three-dimensional information is presented in two ways: by 2-D slices (layers) or by 3-D
volume. In the layer approach, the user can easily set the depth of each of the layers in order to
provide a quick way to display results in daily application. The 3-D volume approach allows
visualization of all depths at once. The volume view can be customized with a variety of features
that allow the user to better characterize contamination at depth.
In order to allow data visualization with respect to site characteristics, SADA can accept
map layers from a Geographic Information System (GIS) saved in a Data eXchange Format
(DXF). Multiple layers can be imported into SADA, and the user can control the layer order and
coloring scheme. In addition, the user can select a sub-region of the site to direct the geospatial
and risk analyses. This user-defined polygon will only consider data points within the interior of
the delimited region when performing the analyses.
The following figure displays a polygonal region used to subset the data
for analysis. This figure also demonstrates the incorporation of GIS layers to show nearby roads and streams.
The below figure demonstrates how SADA uses a geospatial estimator on only the points defined
within the polygon (as in the above figure). The polygon can also be used in this manner to generate screening or
risk results of subsets of the input data.
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