UNIT-2

Visual representations:

Creating visual representations:

The creation of a visual artifact is a process that we can model through a

sequence
of successive stages:
1. preprocessing and data transformations,
2. visual mapping,
3. view creation.

Preprocessing and Data Transformations: We use the term “raw” to describe

data supplied by the world around us. They can be data generated by tools, like
the values of some polluting agents taken from a monitoring station during
pollution testing. They can also be generated and calculated by appropriate
software, such as weather forecast data. They may even be data linked to
measurable events and entities that we find in nature or the social world, like
the number of inhabitants or birth rates of the cities in a specific state. In each
case, these collections of data (known as datasets) are very rarely supplied to
us with a precise logical structure. To be able to process these data using
software, we have to give them an organized logical structure. The structure
usually used for this type of data is tabular—the arranging of data in a table—in
a format appropriate for the software that must receive and process them.
Sometimes the input data are contained in one or more databases and are,
therefore, already available in electronic format and with a well-defined
structure. In this case, the raw data correspond to the data located in the
databases, and the phases of preprocessing and elaboration involve extracting
these data from the database and converting them into the structured format
used by the visualization software.

Visual mapping:

The key problems of this process lie in defining which visual structures to use to map the
data and their location in the display area. As we have already mentioned, abstract data
don’t necessarily have a real location in physical space. There are some types of abstract
data that, by their very nature, can easily find a spatial location. For example, the data taken
from a monitoring station for atmospheric pollution can easily find a position on a
geographic map, given that the monitoring stations that take the measurements are situated
in a precise point in the territory. The same can be said for data taken from entities that have
a topological structure, such as the traffic data of a computer network. However, there are
several types of data that belong to entities that have no natural geographic or topological
positioning. Think, for example, of the bibliographic references in scientific texts, of the
consumption of car fuel, or of the salaries of various professional figures within a company.
This type of data doesn’t have an immediate correspondence with the dimensions of the
physical space that surround it

Views

The views are the final result of the generation process. They are the result of the
mapping of data structures to the visual structures, generating a visual representation
in the physical space represented by the computer. They are what we see displayed on
the computer screen.

Visual analytics:
Visual analytics is the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual
interfaces.
Visual analytics combines automated analysis techniques with interactive
visualization for an effective understanding,reasoning and decision making on
the basis of very large and complex data sets.

Components of visual analytics:

1.Interactive visualization
2.Analytical reasoning

3.Computational analysis

We have two categories of visual analytical process:

1.visual exploration

2.visual explanation

Visual exploration:
Data:

Death records.

Model:

Simple aggregation based on address.

Visualization:

Mapping aggregated numbers to map.

Interaction:

Zooming in and out the map.

Knowledge:

Death distribution is not random,centralised around an area,Which has a

well.

Visual Mapping

Visual mapping is the technique used for displaying complex information

visually.it is the graphical organisation and presentation of information. Some
of the types of visual maps are mind maps,concept maps etc.

.
The visual structures that correspond to the data that we want to represent visually.
This process is called visual mapping:
1. spatial substrate,
2. graphical elements,
3. graphical properties.
The spatial substrate defines the dimensions in physical space where the visual
representation is created. The spatial substrate can be defined in terms of axes. In
Cartesian space, the spatial substrate corresponds to x- and y-axes. Each axis can be of
different types, depending on the type of data that we want to map on it. In particular,
an axis can be quantitative, when there is a metric associated to the values reported on
the axis; ordinal, when the values are reported on the axis in an order that corresponds
to the order of the data; and nominal, when the region of an axis is divided into a
collection of subregions without any intrinsic order.
The graphical elements are everything visible that appears in the space. There are
four possible types of visual elements: points, lines, surfaces, and volumes .
The graphical properties are properties of the graphical elements to which the retina
of the human eye is very sensitive (for this reason, they are also called retinal
variables). They are independent of the position occupied by a visual element in the
spatial substrate. The most common graphical properties are size, orientation, colour,
texture, and shape. These are applied to the graphical elements and determine the
properties of the visual layout that will be presented in the view .
In terms of human’s visual perception, not all graphical properties behave in the
same way. Some graphical properties are more effective than others from the view-
point of quantitative values. Cleveland and carried out a study to evaluate the accuracy
with which people are able to perceive quantitative values mapped to different
properties, graphical elements, and spatial substrates.
 Designing a Visual Application:

with the users of the system to understand their actual needs, or only afterwards do they effectuate
empirical evaluation, when the application prototype has been developed.
The procedure to follow, when creating the visual representations of abstract data, can be outlined in
the following steps:
1. Define the problem by spending a certain amount of time with potential users of the visual
representation. Identify their effective needs and how they work. This is needed to clearly define what
has to be represented. Why is a represen- tation needed? Is it needed to communicate something? Is it
needed for finding new information? Or is it needed to prove hypotheses? It is necessary to bear in
mind the human factors specific to the target audience that the application will address and, in
particular, their cognitive and perceptive abilities. This will influ- ence the choice of which visual
models to use, to allow users to understand the information.
2. Examine the nature of the data to represent. The data can be quantitative (e.g., a list of integers or
real numbers), ordinal (data of a non numeric nature, but which have their own intrinsic order, such as
the days of the week), or cate- gorical (data that have no intrinsic order, such as the names of people
or cities). A different mapping may be appropriate, according to the data type.
3. Number of dimensions. The number of dimensions of the data (also called at- tributes) that we need
to represent very importantly determines the type of rep- resentation that we use. The attributes can
be independent or dependent. The dependent attributes are those that vary and whose behavior we
are interested in analyzing with respect to the independent attributes. According to the num- ber of
dependent attributes, we have a collection of data that is called univariate (one dimension varies with
respect to another), bivariate (there are two depen- dent dimensions), trivariate (three dependent
dimensions), or multivariate (four or more dimensions that vary compared to the independent ones).
4. Data structures. These can be linear (the data are codified in linear data struc- tures like vectors,
tables, collections, etc.), temporal (data that change in time), spatial or geographical (data that have a
correspondence with something phys- ical, such as a map, floorplan, etc.), hierarchical (data relative to
entities orga- nized on hierarchy, for example, genealogy, flowcharts, files on a disk, etc.), and network
(data that describe relationships between entities).
5. Type of interaction. This determines if the visual representation is static (e.g., an image printed on
paper or an image represented on a computer screen but not modifiable by the user), transformable
(when the user can control the process of modification and transformation of data, such as varying
some parameters of data entry, varying the extremes of the values of some attributes, or choosing a
different mapping for view creation), or manipulable (the user can control and modify some
parameters that regulate the generation of the views, like zooming on a detail or rotating an image
represented in 3D). which levels of the process these types of interactions come into play.