IconMap Visualization Technique and Its Application to the Analysis of Soil Nutrients

The IconMap visualization technique is an icon-based approach for multivariate geospatial data sets by extending the pixels of traditional images to icon images.The extension from pixels to icons in the IconMap technique enables raster GIS to represent multiple variables at a single location in the simple' raster data model.A very large number of adjacent icons in an icon map form geographic patterns that are based on interrelations between the individual variables.To demonstrate the usefulness of the technique,the IconMap approach was used to visualize the soil organic matter and nutrient contents in the Shuangliu County,Sichuan province under IconMapper system.The result indicates that the static icon map can well identify the distribution trend of the soil nutrient variables while the dynamic icon map can reflect the co-occurence relationships between them and the fertility quality of the soil synthetically.