Partial Matching of Trajectories with Particle Orientation for Exploratory Trajectory Visualization

Abstract

Trajectories of moving objects are of interest in multiple research fields ranging from geographic information science to behavioral science. Movement patterns of the studied object are often analyzed. Therefore, similar trajectories are retrieved which introduces the need for a similarity measure of trajectories. Similarity measures taken the shape of the trajectory into account are widely researched. Though, there are more attributes that can be relevant to distinguish different movements. One of them is the object orientation along the trajectory. The orientation is of interest in research fields where it influences the movement behavior like the impact of external forces in particles simulations. Trajectory retrieval taking particle orientation into account is still an open research question. Therefore, this work presents a similarity measure for trajectory retrieval considering the complex interaction of linear and rotational movement of particles. Furthermore, the similarity measure applies partial matching allowing for exploration of trajectory parts such as events that may occur along a trajectory tracked over a long time. The proposed algorithm is incorporated into an application for exploratory trajectory visualization.