Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Three visual parts of the visual environment are used for specifying various exploration and min-
ing parameters. The parts are: Specification Space, Target Space, and a part through which a user
specifies/sets parameters for a particular data mining strategy. The other three visual parts are views
for the visualization of data. The data could simply be the target data or the results of a mining
task. The views are: Overview, Detail, and Dedicated View. Figure
3.22
, which is for the Metaquery
Environment, shows the overall outlook of the visual interface. From an architectural point of view,
the system is open and has a modular structure with well defined change/extension points.
Figure 3.22:
The overall outlook of VidaMine.
3.2.5 CHALLENGES AND ISSUES
The field of visual data mining faces many challenges and exhibits various issues that need to be
addressed. These are discussed in the sequel.
Visual support often necessitates the use of graphical elements. The user is expected to interact
with these graphics in real time. Interaction with graphics in real time often places demands on the
computer memory, thereby negatively affecting the performance of the system. Consequently, the
visual environment may not immediately reflect changes occurring in the underlying dataset in real
time. It is no trivial task to determine a good balance between interactivity and performance.
