Transcript Information Visualization

i247: Information Visualization and
Presentation
Cecilia Aragon
Types of Graphs and Visualizations
January 25, 2009
With thanks to Marti Hearst for the slides
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Course Goals
Students will be able to:
– Describe the key design guidelines and techniques
for visual display of information, including the
relationship to human perception.
– Design interactive visualizations to support thought,
understanding, and insight, using real data.
– Explore and critically evaluate visualization
techniques and applications.
Adapted from Stone & Zellweger
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What are your course goals?
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Types of Symbolic Displays
(Kosslyn 89)
• Graphs
• Maps
• Charts
• Diagrams
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Types of Symbolic Displays
• Graphs
– at least two scales required
– values associated by a symmetric “paired with”
relation
• Examples: scatter-plot, bar-chart, layer-graph
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Types of Symbolic Displays
• Charts
– discrete relations among discrete entities
– structure relates entities to one another
– lines and relative position serve as links
• Examples:
– Family tree
– Flow chart
– Network diagram
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Types of Symbolic Displays
• Maps
– Internal relations determined (in part) by the spatial
relations of what is pictured
– Labels paired with locations
• Examples:
– Map of census data
– Topographic maps
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Types of Symbolic Displays
• Diagrams
– Schematic pictures of objects or entities
– Parts are symbolic (unlike photographs)
• how-to illustrations
• figures in a manual
From Glietman, Henry. Psychology. W.W.
Norton and Company, Inc. New York, 1995
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What is the “real” taxonomy for
visual representations?
• An empirical investigation by Lohse et al.’94
– (Only used static, 2D graphics)
– 16 participants
• Half had a graphic design background
– First, looked at 60 images and scored them along 10
scales.
• These were used to compute statistical similarity
– Then, organized the 60 images into categories according
to similarity.
• Were asked to name the groups
• Then they grouped these into higher-level groups, repeatedly,
until they were in one large group.
Lohse, G L; Biolsi, K; Walker, N and H H Rueter, A Classification of Visual Representations,
CACM, Vol. 37, No. 12, pp 36-49, 1994
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Scales that Participants Used
(and percentage of variance explained)
16.0
11.3
10.6
10.5
10.3
10.1
9.9
9.6
9.5
2.2
emphasizes whole – parts
spatial – nonspatial
static structure – dynamic structure
continuous – discrete
attractive – unattractive
nontemporal – temporal
concrete – abstract
hard to understand – easy
nonnumeric – numeric
conveys a lot of info – conveys little
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Resulting Categories
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(Lohse et al. 94)
Graphs
Tables (numerical)
Tables (graphical)
Charts (time)
Charts (network)
Diagrams (structure)
Diagrams (network)
Maps
Cartograms
Icons
Photo-realistic images
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Graphs
• Encode quantitative information using position
and magnitude of geometric objects.
• Examples: scatter plots, bar charts.
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Tables
• An arrangement of words, numbers, signs, or
combinations of them to exhibit a set of facts
or relationships in a compact fashion.
• Less abstract symbolic notation than graphs.
– Graphical tables and numerical tables
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Time Charts
• Display temporal data.
– Gantt chart, time schedule.
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Network Charts
• Show the relationships among components
• Symbols indicate the presence or absence of
components.
• Correspondences are shown by lines, arrows,
proximity, similarity, or containment.
– Flow charts, org charts, PERT charts, decision trees.
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Structure Diagrams
• A static description of a physical object.
• Spatial layout expresses true coordinate
dimensions of the object.
– Cross-sections
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Process Diagrams
• Describe interrelationships and processes
associated with physical objects.
• Spatial layout expresses dynamic, continuous,
or temporal relationships among the objects.
– Lifecycle
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Maps
• Symbolic representations of physical geography.
– Marine charts, topo maps, projections of world maps.
• Differ from cartograms in that cartograms superimpose quantitative data over a base map.
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Cartograms
• Spatial maps that show quantitative data.
• Show more quantitative information than
structure diagrams.
– Choropleths, dot maps, flow maps.
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Icons
• Impart a single interpretation or meaning for a
picture; a unique label for a visual
representation.
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Photo-realistic Pictures
• Realistic images of an object or scene.
• Subjects felt they conveyed little information,
less even than icons.
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Lincoln Penny
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Lincoln Penny
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Put into Multiple Categories
• More information conveyed by traditional
chemical notation than by 3D representation.
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Where should these go?
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Effects of graphic arts training
• Conflicting studies for expert-novice
differences in visual information processing
• DeSanctis and Jarvenpaa, 1989: practice
improves ability to decode information from
graphs
• Egan and Schwartz, 1979: chunking of
symbols facilitates memory reconstruction
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Other Findings
(Lohse et al. 94)
• Photorealistic images were least informative
– Echos results in icon studies – better to use less complex,
more schematic images
• Graphs and tables are the most self-similar categories
– Results in the literature comparing these are inconclusive
• Cartograms were hard to understand
– Echos other results – better to put points into a framed
rectangle to aid spatial perception
• Temporal data more difficult to show than cyclic data
– Recommend using animation for temporal data
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The NYTimes
Illustrates Climate Change
•
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Cartoon
Illustrative Photograph
Graph
Graph (multiple views)
Interactive Graphs
Combination of Photo Illustration, Drawn
Illustration, Information Graphics
• Video
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The NYTimes
Illustrates Climate Change
• Cartoon
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Carbon Neutral Confession
April 28, 2007
Ron Barrett
NYTimes
– http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/weekinreview/29revkin.htm
l?scp=11&sq=global+warming&st=nyt
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The NYTimes
Illustrates Climate Change
• Illustrative Photograph
– A Disaster Epic (in Slo-Mo)
– February 4, 2007
– Macdiarmid/Getty Images
– http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/weekinreview/04basic.html?scp=9&s
q=global+warming&st=nyt
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The NYTimes
Illustrates Climate Change
• Information
Visualization Graphic
– Carbon Dioxide in the
atmosphere
– April 23, 2006
– Bill Marsh
– NYTimes
– http://www.nytimes.com/imagepag
es/2006/04/23/weekinreview/2006
0423revkin_graphic.html
– http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/
23/weekinreview/23revkin.html
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The NYTimes
Illustrates Climate Change
• Static Graphic (Multiple Views)
– Far Down the List of Worries
– (from the story Yelling 'Fire' on a Hot
Planet by Revkin)
– April 23, 2006
– NYTimes
– Bill Marsh
– http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/04/
23/weekinreview/20060423revkin2_graph.html
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The NYTimes
Illustrates Climate Change
• Combination: Photo Illustration,
Drawn Illustration, Information
Graphics
– A Battle Between the Bottle and the
Tap
– July 15, 2007
– Bill Marsh, Tony Cenicola
– Satisfying the National Thirst ... With
Lots of Bottles
– http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/weekinreview/15
marsh.html?scp=54&sq=global+warming&st=nyt
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The NYTimes
Illustrates Climate Change
• Graphic
– A Carbon Tide: Past, Present, and
Future
– Bill Marsh
– December 16, 2007
– NYTimes
– http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/12/16/we
ekinreview/20071216_EMISSIONS_GRAPHIC.html
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The NYTimes
Illustrates Climate Change
• Interactive flash graphics
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October 1, 2007
Sea Ice in Retreat
Aigner, Corum, Nguyen
NYTimes
–
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/10/01
/science/20071002_ARCTIC_GRAPHIC.html
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topi
cs/globalwarming/index.html
–
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The NYTimes
Illustrates Climate Change
• Video
– Solar City: A Co-op Goes
Green
– January 23, 2008
– Dwyer, Romero, Witty
– NY Times
– http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=
aa81e9284c77f01e48353c64b86fa7a0a
21e887f
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