Using Auditory Display

This paper describes a way to incorporate sound into a raster based classified image. Methods for determining the sound location, amplitude, type and how to create a layer to store the information are described. Hurdles are discussed and suggestions of how to overcome them are presented. As humans we rely on our senses to help us navigate the world. Sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; they all help us perceive our environment. Although we sometimes take vision for granted, all our other senses play as important of a role in our daily lives. Even with all these senses at our disposal, the conventional GIS very uncommonly do much more than convey their information visually. We demonstrate an auditory display with a sample implementation using a classified raster image, commonly used in a GIS analysis. This was achieved using a spatial sonification algorithm initially created in a Java environment. The ultimate aim of this work is to develop an interactive mapping technology that fully incorporates auditory display, over a variety of platforms and applications. Such a tool would have the potential be of great benefit for displaying multivariate information in complex information displays. [Keywords: Geographic Information Systems, GIS, mapping, image sonification, auditory map display, spatial sonification