Effects of display design on signal detection in flash flood forecasting

Argyle, Elizabeth M.; Gourley, Jonathan J.; Ling, Chen; Shehab, Randa L.; Kang, Ziho

Abstract

The Flooded Locations and Simulated Hydrographs (FLASH) project is a suite of tools that use weather radar-based rainfall estimates to force hydrologic models to predict flash floods in real-time. However, early evaluation of FLASH tools in a series of simulated forecasting operations, it was believed that the data aggregation and visualization methods might have contributed to forecasting a large number of false alarms. The present study addresses the question of how two alternative data aggregation and visualization methods affect signal detection of flash floods. A sample of 30 participants viewed a series of stimuli created from FLASH images and were asked to judge whether or not they predicted significant or insignificant amounts of flash flooding. Analyses revealed that choice of aggregation method did affect probability of detection. Additional visual indicators such as geographic scale of the stimuli and threat level affected the odds of interpreting the model predictions correctly as well as congruence in responses between national and local scale model outputs.

Citation

Argyle, E. M., Gourley, J. J., Ling, C., Shehab, R. L., & Kang, Z. (2017). Effects of display design on signal detection in flash flood forecasting. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 99, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.11.004

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 28, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Nov 29, 2016
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Mar 23, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 23, 2018
• Journal: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
• Electronic ISSN: 1071-5819
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 99
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.11.004
• Keywords: Data aggregation; Visualization; Weather forecasting; Flash flooding; Human factors; Decision making; Signal detection; Situation awareness
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/970283
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071581916301677?via%3Dihub