Visualizing Time-Dependent Variables of Water Distribution Systems

Providing sustainable urban water distribution systems is a complex process involving decision makers and authorities as well as the public opinion. In this process, a successful visualization should support analyzing and comparing different scenarios. Therefore, in this study, several visualization techniques are combined to provide an effective representation of a water distribution system. The main parameter to visualize is nodal pressure. First, the nodal pressure values for the study area are obtained as a function of operation time using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPANET model. Then, the time steps are represented as small multiple maps. In order to improve the visibility of each node, all the nodes along the edges are aggregated and represented as a single node. The circle view representation is used to visualize two values of a nodal pressure variable. Finally, the water network is mapped onto a grid, which allows a user to see every node individually without overlaps. Results show that this combination of visualization techniques to illustrate the water network scenarios is beneficial for decision makers to provide sustainable urban water services.