Improving the maritime surface picture with a visualization aid to provide rapid situation awareness of information uncertainty

The maintenance of good situational awareness by government agencies for the maritime surface picture is of critical importance for national security, regional safety, pollution mitigation, immigration enforcement and protection from smuggling etc. Unfortunately, this picture, as currently implemented, provides the user with no immediate awareness of the quality or timeliness of the information for any specific vessel track that is plotted. The present research describes the development of visualization concepts in the form of icons that can be integrated into the existing symbology used to plot the picture. Several design concepts were initially developed and evaluated heuristically against Human Factors principles. Subsequently, the best candidates were evaluated in the laboratory for their capability for improving situational awareness in a search task. The results provided evidence of which designs were more effective, and how they could potentially make operational decisions more effective by increasing awareness of the underlying data uncertainty. Each of the designs was then evaluated by Navy operators who performed simulated operational tasks and assessed the utility and usability of the new functionality. The results of the experiment and the outcome of this validation process were then used to support a recommendation as to which design would be proposed for future implementation.