# An Exploratory Study on Visual Exploration of Model Simulations by Multiple Types of Experts

## TL;DR

This study investigates how multiple domain experts collaboratively explore complex simulation models using shared interactive visualizations, revealing diverse strategies and insights in trade-off analysis.

## Contribution

It introduces a simple collaborative visualization approach and provides empirical insights into experts' exploration strategies during trade-off analysis.

## Key findings

- Different exploration strategies among experts
- Multiple storyline approaches in analysis
- Recommendations for collaborative visualization systems

## Abstract

Experts in different domains rely increasingly on simulation models of complex processes to reach insights, make decisions, and plan future projects. These models are often used to study possible trade-offs, as experts try to optimise multiple conflicting objectives in a single investigation. Understanding all the model intricacies, however, is challenging for a single domain expert. We propose a simple approach to support multiple experts when exploring complex model results. First, we reduce the model exploration space, then present the results on a shared interactive surface, in the form of a scatterplot matrix and linked views. To explore how multiple experts analyse trade-offs using this setup, we carried out an observational study focusing on the link between expertise and insight generation during the analysis process. Our results reveal the different exploration strategies and multi-storyline approaches that domain experts adopt during trade-off analysis, and inform our recommendations for collaborative model exploration systems.