Visualizing Water Infrastructure with Sankey Maps

Published on June 4, 2018 13:27 by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Academic

Visualizing water infrastructure with Sankey maps: a case study of mapping the Los Angeles Aqueduct, California

ABSTRACT

Creating resilience for urban water supply systems requires innovative thematic visualizations of the interface between infrastructure, ecology, and culture to viscerally engage lay audiences in the policy making process. Sankey maps (a hybrid Sankey diagram/flow map) embed the systemic accounting of flows between sources and sinks into a spatial framework.

This allows a hierarchy of visual variables to encode environmental conditions and historical data, providing a rich multivariate context supporting public discourse, policy making, and system operations. The article features a Sankey map of the Los Angeles Aqueduct system (California, USA) (not to scale).

KEYWORDS: Flow visualization, public engagement, sustainability, visual variables, water infrastructure

Author: Barry Lehrman

https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2018.1473815

Read and download full paper: Taylor & Francis Online

Source: Journal of Maps, From the paper

Media

Taxonomy

Urban Drainage
Water Resource Mapping
Integrated Urban Water Management
Urban Water
Urban Resource Management
Urban Water Supply
Infrastructure
Integrated Infrastructure
Urban Water Infrastructure
Infrastructure Management
Urban Design
green infrastructure