On the surface - The Visualization of Spatial Social Structure - page 197

7

On the surface

When I first saw the animation, I watched it over and over again. I
thought something like this was going on - but never exactly this.
(La Breque, 1989, p. 527, quoting Ellson viewing a simulation)

7.1 2D vision, 3D world

Many early advocates of visualization claimed the practice began with rendering
surfaces. Anything simpler was merely presentation graphics. 1 The thesis
this topic presents clearly rejects that argument. This was an argument for
more expensive machines, rather than arguing for more useful images. The
underlying claim here is that, if something can be adequately represented
as a two-dimensional image, it is often detrimental to depict it as a more
complex object, just as it is better not to use colour unless it is actually needed
(Figures 7.1 and 7.2).
Much of today's three-dimensional visualization is unnecessary, and often a
damaging embellishment of what is essentially a two-dimensional structure. The
primary purpose is usually for dramatic illustrative effect. A dramatic mountain
range of unemployment is more interesting to look at than the simple grey shaded
cartogram, but is it more informative? We must weigh up the disadvantages of
obscuring features, emphasising the foreground, exaggerating the vertical scale,

1 Some claimed visualization should also always be dynamic: 'Visualization of scientific data
is very different from graphical analysis or presentation graphics. Visualization implies the use of
dynamic graphics to portray changes in an environment over time, or to show the relationships
between variables. Dynamic graphics implies rapid update of graphic displays based on opera-
tor input, or simulation of real-time changes in an environment through display of movie loops'
(Thompson, 1988, p. 1084).