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trees, graphs, baselines, etc. This use of shape will require a different set of
criteria to understand and evaluate. An example of an experiment is found
in a visualization of the Fortune 500 companies by sector and state (Fig
3.31):
Fig. 3.31.
Fortune 500 by sector and state. The background tree-like shape (light
grey) indicates sector hierarchy, repeated once per state. Nodes along branches
indicate companies.
The Future of shape in visualization
The use of multiple shape attributes increases the expressive range and
the information density of visualizations. Exploration and experimentation
suggest that there may be 10 different shape attributes, and the potential to
convey 1-10 or more different data attributes within a glyph based on
shape attributes.
There remain many uncertainties. Table 3.2 provides a working list of
shape attributes, although the items have not been evaluated rigorously
and some items have not been substantiated in our own experiments.
Further, some attributes have additional sub-attributes (e.g. a terminator
may have both length and width and therefore represent two data
attributes).
Also, it is not known which shape combinations work well together.
Additional research in this area could reduce the amount of trial and error
in glyph design.
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