Do we really understand what we see? Cognitive issues in remote-sensing from the perspective of a scientist and an educator

As remote-sensing specialists, we all use images and visualizations as the life-blood of our work. We receive data in the form of images, we use software to manipulate images, we cross-reference among images, and we use images to communicate our findings. And yet, how well do we understand the cognitive and perceptual issues which make our images more or less effective? These cognitive issues become all the more important when we try to use images to convey essential concepts to the general public, and when we promote the use of images in education. Such cognitive and perceptual issues are the focus of "Visualizing Earth", an educational research project National Science Foundation, Advanced Technology program. Applications "Visualizing Earth" combines the expertise of educators, remote-sensing scientists and cognitive psychologists, to explore cognitive issues which are central to more effective use of remote-sensed images and visualization software tools in education. In this paper, two of the principal investigators, a scientist and an educator, share their initial findings in relation to their efforts to use images in education and public information.