Reviewing the role of visualization in communicating and understanding forest complexity

In recent years, we have seen a great deal of expansion in our knowledge of forest ecosystems and the underlying management dimensions that support decision-making in this context. Forestry, much like other natural resource management disciplines, is faced with the challenge of integrating information from many different perspectives often with limited understanding of the basic principles of the multitude of specialized fields from which they are generated. This problem is only exacerbated when reviewing management options with diverse stakeholders such as statutory decision makers and the general public. This paper suggests that 3D visualizations can aid in mitigating these difficulties of communication and understanding forest complexity. Methods of visualizing forestry data hold promise in clarifying complex spatial and temporal relationships, for experts and lay people alike. This paper reviews issues of complexity raised by today's demand for sustainable forest management, and the potential of 3D visualization to address these issues, drawing on past and current research on visualization effectiveness and validity. Ultimately, the goal of this work is to develop effective visualization methodologies to expand our ability to explore, critique, and understand forestry data. Our hope is that this supports knowledge discovery and diffusion to effected communities in the face of underlying data complexity and often, a limited familiarity with the concepts and principles of forest management.