Visualizing Multi-Hazard Risk: A Systematic Review of the Literature

The public relies on weather visualizations to make evacuation and preparedness decisions. Visualization design choices shape comprehension and protective action, and poorly designed displays can overwhelm users or delay response. Effective design may therefore depend on the relationships among the hazards being shown. Weather hazards relate to one another in different ways: compound hazards share a common cause, cascading hazards occur when one triggers another, and independent hazards coincide by chance. This systematic literature review of 11 papers synthesizes what is known and proposes design principles for multi-hazard weather maps. Integration improved comprehension only where the combined elements shared a common origin: a forecast path and the hazard it produces. Where hazards were unrelated, integration increased engagement but not understanding. Compound and cascading hazards, where the hazards are connected to one another, have not been tested. Future research should evaluate integrated versus separated displays across compound and cascading hazards.