DynamoVis 1.0: an exploratory data visualization software for mapping movement in relation to internal and external factors

BACKGROUND: This paper introduces DynamoVis version 1.0, an open-source software developed to design, record and export custom animations and multivariate visualizations from movement data, enabling visual exploration and communication of patterns capturing the associations between animals’ movement and its affecting internal and external factors. Proper representation of these dependencies grounded on cartographic principles and intuitive visual forms can facilitate scientific discovery, decision-making, collaborations, and foster understanding of movement. RESULTS: DynamoVis offers a visualization platform that is accessible and easily usable for scientists and general public without a need for prior experience with data visualization or programming. The intuitive design focuses on a simple interface to apply cartographic techniques, giving ecologists of all backgrounds the power to visualize and communicate complex movement patterns. CONCLUSIONS: DynamoVis 1.0 offers a flexible platform to quickly and easily visualize and animate animal tracks to uncover hidden patterns captured in the data, and explore the effects of internal and external factors on their movement path choices and motion capacities. Hence, DynamoVis can be used as a powerful communicative and hypothesis generation tool for scientific discovery and decision-making through visual reasoning. The visual products can be used as a research and pedagogical tool in movement ecology.