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Introduction To Information Visualization

This document introduces information visualization. It defines the differences between scientific and information visualization, provides a brief history of the field, and gives examples of different visualization types. It also outlines the typical visualization workflow of acquiring, parsing, filtering, representing, refining and interacting with data. Finally, it discusses visualization software options and resources for learning more about information visualization.

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Anita Malhotra
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82 views24 pages

Introduction To Information Visualization

This document introduces information visualization. It defines the differences between scientific and information visualization, provides a brief history of the field, and gives examples of different visualization types. It also outlines the typical visualization workflow of acquiring, parsing, filtering, representing, refining and interacting with data. Finally, it discusses visualization software options and resources for learning more about information visualization.

Uploaded by

Anita Malhotra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to Information Visualization

Robert Putnam
[email protected]

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Outline
 Introduction / Definition
 History
 Examples
 Workflow / Pipeline
 Software overview
 Hands-on exercises
 Resources

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


“Sci vis” versus “Info vis”
•Visualization: converting raw data to a form that is
viewable and understandable to humans.

•Scientific visualization: specifically concerned


with data that has a well-defined representation in
2D or 3D space (e.g., from simulation mesh or
scanner).

*Adapted from The ParaView


Tutorial, Moreland

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Information visualization

•Information visualization: concerned with data that


does not have a well-defined representation in 2D or
3D space (i.e., “abstract data”).

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Pre-history
 Selected figures
– William Playfair (1821) – line, bar charts, etc.
– Charles Joseph Minard (1869) – Napoleon’s march, etc.
– Jacques Bertin (1967) – “semiology of graphics”
– John Tukey (1977) – “exploratory data analysis”
– Edward Tufte (1983) – statistical graphics standards/practices
 1985 NSF Workshop on Scientific Visualization
 1990: S.K.Card, et al. Readings in Information
Visualization: Using Vision to Think

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Examples
 Network visualization
(vizster)

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Examples
 Geo data
mapping

 Demo

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Examples
 Treemap

 Demo

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Examples

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Examples
 Population

“Trendalyzer”

 Demo

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Additional Examples
 NY Times words, words, numbers
 Visual Complexity (from book by Manuel Lima)
 50 examples (from June 2009, somewhat dated)
 D3 Gallery

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Visualization components
 Color
 Size
 Texture
 Proximity
 Annotation
 Interactivity
– Selection / Filtering
– Zoom
– Animation

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Info vis workflow / pipeline*
 Acquire
 Parse
 Filter
 Mine
 Represent
 Refine
 Interact

* Adapted from Fry, Visualizing Data

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Info vis workflow / pipeline
 Acquire

[p. 7, Fry, Visualizing Data]


Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013
Info vis workflow / pipeline
 Parse

[p. 8, Fry, Visualizing Data]


Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013
Info vis workflow / pipeline
 Filter/Mine

[p. 10, Fry, Visualizing Data]


Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013
Info vis workflow / pipeline
 Represent

[p. 10, Fry, Visualizing Data]


Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013
Info vis workflow / pipeline
 Refine

[p. 12, Fry, Visualizing Data]

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Info vis workflow / pipeline
 Interact

 Demo [p. 12, Fry, Visualizing Data]

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Visualization software
 Host language (C/C++/Java/Python) plus OpenGL
 Stat/math package with graphics
– R
– MATLAB
 Special-purpose info viz software
– Earth mapping, biological network visualization, etc.
 Browser-enabled graphics/info viz packages
– Google Charts
– Processing / Processing.js
– D3
– Java + Flash (becoming rarer)
Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013
Hands-on
 HTML intro*
 Google charts
 D3

*Enabling software:
- JavaScript: “the language** of the web”
- JSON: JavaScript Object Notation
- SVG: Scalable Vector Graphics
- CSS: Cascading Style Sheets
**currently

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Resources
 Books
– Visual Complexity, Mapping Patterns of Information , Manuel Lima
– The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward Tufte
– Information Visualization: Beyond the Horizon, Chaomei Chen
– JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, David Flanagan
– Getting Started with D3, Mike Dewar
– Visualizing Data, Ben Fry
– Interactive Data Visualization for the Web, Scott Murray
 Websites
– http://processingjs.org/
– http://d3js.org/, https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/API-Reference
– http://code.google.com/apis/ajax/playground/
– http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/
– http://www.visualcomplexity.com/
– http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/06/50-great-examples-of-data-visualization/

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Resources
 Web sites (cont.)
– http://fellinlovewithdata.com/
– http://infosthetics.com/
– http://visual.ly/
 Conferences
– 17th International Conference: Information Visualisation, July 15-18 2013,
London
– IEEE VIS 2013, October 13-18, Atlanta
 Groups
– d3-js (Google)
– Greater Boston useR Group (R Programming Language)
– Local meetups (see www.meetup.com)

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013


Questions?
 Tutorial survey:
- http://scv.bu.edu/survey/tutorial_evaluation.html

Introduction to Information Visualization - Fall 2013

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