Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
C
HAPTER
T
WO
I
NFORMATION
V
ISUALIZATION ON
S
PHERES
R
ICHARD
B
RATH AND
P
ETER
M
AC
M
URCHY
Abstract
The use of a sphere as a basis for organizing information visualization
should balance issues such as occlusion against potential benefits such as
natural navigational affordances and perceptual connotations of an
application.
Introduction
There are many ways to organize the layout of data within a visualization.
Traditional charts, such as bar charts and scatterplots, often use a Cartesian
grid, while information visualizations may use a variety of layouts,
including circular or spherical layouts.
Spherical layouts may be suited to data that is already inherently
spherical, such as forms of global data, including map-based (e.g. Google
Earth) or sky-based visualizations (e.g. starrynight.com). Spheres have
also been used in other information visualizations, such as hierarchical
relationships (e.g. Caida's Walrus, Fig. 2.1), correlations (e.g. [Spr97], and
images (e.g. Vizible [Gal03], Fig. 2.1).
Fig. 2.1.
Spherical visualization: Walrus (left), Vizible (right).
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