Evaluating the Usability of Visualizations of Normal Behavioral Models for Analytical Reasoning

Many approaches for anomaly detection use statistical based methods that build profiles of normality. In these cases, anomalies are defined as deviations from normal models build from representative data. Detection systems based solely on these approaches typically generate high false alarm rates due to the difficulty of creating flawless models. In order to support the comprehension, validation and update of such models, this paper is devoted to the visualization of normal behavioral models of sea traffic and their usability evaluation. First, we present geographical projections of the different probability density functions that represent the normal traffic behavior and second, we outline results from a usability assessment carried out in order to evaluate the ability of such visualizations to support representative tasks related to the establishment of normal situational picture.