An approach to data visualization and interpretation for sensor networks

With the increase in applications for sensor networks, data manipulation and representation have become a crucial component of sensor networks. This paper explores an approach to process and interpret the data gathered by sensor networks. We have built sensor networks which consist of a series of sensor and communication units ("pods") deployed to monitor rare plants or other endangered species. The environmental data, such as temperature, rainfall, and sunlight, around the plants are sent by the wireless sensor networks to a base station which is able to access the Internet. The approach presented in this paper combines database management technology, geographic information system and Web development technology to visualize the data gathered by the wireless sensor networks. The resulting maps created by a GIS system, GRASS, connect the environmental data with the pods\´ geographic positions obtained from GPS (the global positioning system). Voronoi diagrams are used to partition the map into areas holding different weather attributes based on the data collected by the pods. The Web development technology _ynamic Web programming - is also adopted in this system to make the data available via the Internet. Finally, we sketch the design of an asynchronous collaborative discussion environment which supports online communities among the end users of our information interpretation system. The integration of our data visualization tools and the online collaborative discussion environment makes the system useful to different communities of potential users.