INTRODUCING A DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH TOWARDS THE IDENTIFICATION OF GRID CELL SIZE THRESHOLD (CST) FOR SPATIAL DATA VISUALIZATION: AN APPLICATION ON MARINE SPATIAL PLANNING (MSP)

Spatial data visualization techniques may have a great influence in several disciplines related to spatial management and hence decision-making process. Among them, marine spatial planning (MSP) constitutes an integrated procedure aiming at the optimal allocation of human activities in marine space. In MSP, mapping process referred either in human activities, marine ecosystems or indicative indices is based on the implementation of a grid approach. The present paper discusses some critical issues related to visualization procedure while a new data-driven approach is introduced towards the identification of grid cell size threshold. The proposed method gives a critical suggestion that may be easily extended in each field that considers this type of visualization for spatial data handling.