Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
2.2. Data Visualization
most. It is based on an averaging of how users
navigate the database.
Visualization means the ability to locate
information and explore its structure; it results
from creating and manipulating graphic images
directly from the data. This way, visualization is
an efficient tool that assists graphic designers,
artists, and other practitioners in visual ways of
thinking about creative projects, strategies, and
performance. Visualization serves a wide range of
professionals performing scientific research and
presentations, creating communication media art
and installations, drafting architectural projects,
designing newspapers and magazines, working
on website design, or originating animated video
or film projects. Different types of users apply
visualizations to understand how data analyses
and queries relate to each other. According to Fox
and Hendler (2011), visualization should serve not
only as an end product of scientific analysis, but
also as “an exploration tool that scientists can use
throughout the research life cycle. New database
technologies, coupled with emerging Web-based
technologies, may hold the key to lowering the cost
of visualization generation and allow it to become
a more integral part of the scientific process.”
From simple charts and data graphics to the 3D
computer generated virtual reality environments
happening in real time with human interaction pos-
sible through input/output devices, visualizations
let us fly around the organized data, comprehend,
and make decisions. Francis Marchese (2011) indi-
cated that tables of the past acted as visualization
modalities. Many kinds of tables that have been
preserved since ancient times, such as the Near
East Akkadian clay tablets, Sumerian account-
ing tables, Aztec calendars, or the Egiptian stele
Rosetta Stone, as well as the medieval chronicles,
canon tables, and calendars are representations
of some of early genres in information visualiza-
tion. Analysis of these tables demonstrates the
constant need to visualize information, which
had transformed the ways in which it has been
communicated and used.
Possibly, visualization is the best way of learn-
ing, teaching, or sharing the data, information,
and knowledge. Many agree that visualization
outperforms text-based sources and increases our
ability to think and communicate. Data visualiza-
tion enables us to go from the abstract numbers
in a computer program (ones and zeros) to visual
interpretation of data. Text visualization means
converting textual information into graphic rep-
resentation, so we can see information without
having to read the data. For example, designers
may choose to apply tables, pie or bar charts, his-
tograms, or Cartesian coordinates to present their
data. Abstract or model-based scientific visualiza-
tions present real objects in a digital way directly
from the scientific data. They may enrich learning
by presenting art-science cooperative projects, and
making knowledge accessible and comprehensible
to a wide audience. With visualizations, you can
avoid providing dry context that is difficult to ab-
sorb. We can apply visualization when we design
a presentation of abstract data in a visual, often
interactive way. For this purpose, we use easy-to-
recognize objects that are connected through some
well-defined relations. At present, visualization
means using the computer. Computers transform
data into information, and then visualization con-
verts information into picture forms and creates
graphic images and symbols to convey and express
meaning; this let us comprehend data and make
decisions. Visualization is a kind of storytelling
comprises interactive graphics, animated graphics,
multimedia features, interactive narratives, and
explanation graphics (Burmester, Mast, Tille, &
Weber, 2010). Analysts, decision makers, engi-
neers, or emergency response teams depend on
the ability to analyze information contained in the
data. Communication is more efficient when it is
connected with knowledge of the audience. For
example, a search conducted in such companies
as Amazon.com, Netflix, or eBay results in sug-
gestions about products that users would enjoy
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