Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3.13:
A parallel coordinates example.
3.1.3 DATA PRESENTATION
The best data representation could be totally useless if poorly
presented
to the end user. The main
issues to consider in this phase are user interaction and space limitation.
User interaction deals with a set of very often neglected techniques that allow for basic,
interactive manipulation of the visualization. A minimum list of interactions should include the
following features:
Panning, zooming, scrolling, and rotating capabilities;
Axes reordering, e.g., exchanging the X axis with the Y axis;
Axes' scales manipulation (e.g., logarithmic vs. linear) and labelling;
Change of the association between data values and visualization;
Single item inspection through direct manipulation, e.g., selecting it with a mouse;
Interactive visual and textual data filtering, i.e., reducing the data presented on the screen;
Saving and restoring of queries and visualizations;
Simple mechanisms for data import/export;
Undo and redo;
Navigation support, i.e., providing clues for understanding how to move within the visualiza-
tion;
Animation.
