ABSTRACT
Spatial displays are important for people to understand situations or to become situationally aware. The chapter begins with a discussion of graphs and outlines several factors that can make graphs more effective for people to use. The chapter presents the findings of the research literature on graphical displays such as meters and dials, and emphasizes the concept of graphs having a tight compatibility between the display and what the display represents cognitively to the user. The chapter introduces two types of perception, direct and indirect, and how these two types of perception contribute to how people understand 3D space. The chapter then discusses how people deliberately judge and interpret depth and 3D structure and how 3D displays might best be designed to effectively convey information. Finally, the chapter discusses spatial displays in other modalities besides visual ones.
