Abstract
Commercial-off-the-shelf three-dimensional (3-D) modeling and visualization tools make it relatively easy to produce 3-D renderings of data. It is much more difficult to ensure that 3-D renderings honor the original data points, that they take into account the heterogeneity of the medium in which the data were collected, and that they convey the uncertainty inherent in interpolating between and extrapolating from the original data points. This study offers practical advice by describing three steps necessary to produce defensible 3-D visualizations: defining the problem to be solved, selecting the appropriate software tools, and applying the tools in a systematic manner.
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