Visualization of uncertainty associated with spatial prediction of continuous variables using HSI color model: a case study of prediction of pH for topsoil in peri-urban Beijing, China

Abstract

Hue-Saturation-Intensity (HSI) color model, a psychologically appealing color model, was employed to visualize uncertainty represented by relative prediction error based on the case of spatial prediction of pH of topsoil in the peri-urban Beijing. A two-dimensional legend was designed to accompany the visualization—vertical axis (hues) for visualizing the predicted values and horizontal axis (whiteness) for visualizing the prediction error. Moreover, different ways of visualizing uncertainty were briefly reviewed in this paper. This case study indicated that visualization of both predictions and prediction uncertainty offered a possibility to enhance visual exploration of the data uncertainty and to compare different prediction methods or predictions of totally different variables. The whitish region of the visualization map can be simply interpreted as unsatisfactory prediction results, where may need additional samples or more suitable prediction models for a better prediction results.