What do we know about the space-time cube from a cartographic and usability perspective?

This paper discusses the results of the extensive usability evaluation of the space - time cube based on a user centered design approach. It is characterized by an early involvement of human geographers, who provided rich movement data and their research questions, to be used in use case scenarios during the testing. With the domain experts workflows were established and linked to a visualization strategy based onShneiderman’s mantra. With the question ‘What is the effect of the cartographic design on the usability of the space - time cube?’ in mind different maps were created applying different visual variables and depth cues. In a focus group based experiment the design was evaluated with eight experts in geovisualization. During this test the suitability of the visual variables was discussed for the ‘overview’ and ‘zoom’ steps based on several hypotheses. For the display of the trajectories qualitative data the results were as expected. For the quantitative data some surprising result can be reported. The final results are a good starting point for some more testing with alternative data sets