1 i247: Information Visualization and Presentation Marti Hearst Types of Graphs and Visualizations January 28, 2008
Dec 21, 2015
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i247: Information Visualization and PresentationMarti Hearst
Types of Graphs and VisualizationsJanuary 28, 2008
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Course Goals
Students will be able to:
– Describe the key design guidelines and techniques for visual display of information, including the relationship to human perception.
– Design interactive visualizations to support thought, understanding, and insight, using real data.
– Explore and critically evaluate visualization techniques and applications.
Adapted from Stone & Zellweger
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What are your course goals?
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Types of Symbolic Displays (Kosslyn 89)
• Graphs
• Charts
• Maps
• Diagrams
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Types of Symbolic Displays• Graphs
– at least two scales required– values associated by a symmetric “paired with”
relation• Examples: scatter-plot, bar-chart, layer-graph
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Types of Symbolic Displays
• Charts– discrete relations among discrete entities– structure relates entities to one another– lines and relative position serve as links
• Examples:– Family tree– Flow chart– Network diagram
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Types of Symbolic Displays• Maps
– Internal relations determined (in part) by the spatial relations of what is pictured
– Labels paired with locations
• Examples:– Map of census data– Topographic maps
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Types of Symbolic Displays
• Diagrams– Schematic pictures of objects or entities– Parts are symbolic (unlike photographs)
• how-to illustrations• figures in a manual
From Glietman, Henry. Psychology. W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. New York, 1995
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What is the “real” taxonomy for visual representations?
• An empirical investigation by Lohse et al.’94– (Only used static, 2D graphics)– 16 participants
• Half had a graphic design background– First, looked at 60 images and scored them along 10
scales.• These were used to compute statistical similarity
– Then, organized the 60 images into categories according to similarity.
• Were asked to name the groups• Then they grouped these into higher-level groups, repeatedly,
until they were in one large group.
Lohse, G L; Biolsi, K; Walker, N and H H Rueter, A Classification of Visual Representations,
CACM, Vol. 37, No. 12, pp 36-49, 1994
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Scales that Participants Used(and percentage of variance explained)
16.0 emphasizes whole – parts11.3 spatial – nonspatial10.6 static structure – dynamic structure10.5 continuous – discrete10.3 attractive – unattractive10.1 nontemporal – temporal 9.9 concrete – abstract 9.6 hard to understand – easy 9.5 nonnumeric – numeric 2.2 conveys a lot of info – conveys little
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Resulting Categories (Lohse et al. 94)
• Graphs• Tables (numerical)• Tables (graphical)• Charts (time)• Charts (network)• Diagrams (structure)• Diagrams (network)• Maps• Cartograms• Icons• Photo-realistic images
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Graphs
• Encode quantitative information using position and magnitude of geometric objects.
• Examples: scatter plots, bar charts.
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Tables• An arrangement of words, numbers, signs, or
combinations of them to exhibit a set of facts or relationships in a compact fashion.
• Less abstract symbolic notation than graphs.– Graphical tables and numerical tables
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Time Charts
• Display temporal data.– Gantt chart, time schedule.
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Network Charts• Show the relationships among components• Symbols indicate the presence or absence of
components. • Correspondences are shown by lines, arrows,
proximity, similarity, or containment.– Flow charts, org charts, pert charts, decision trees.
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Structure Diagrams
• A static description of a physical object.• Spatial layout expresses true coordinate
dimensions of the object.– Cross-sections
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Process Diagrams• Describe interrelationships and processes
associated with physical objects.• Spatial layout expresses dynamic, continuous,
or temporal relationships among the objects.– Lifecycle
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Maps
• Symbolic representations of physical geography.– Marine charts, topo maps, projections of world maps.
• Differ from cartograms in that cartograms super-impose quantitative data over a base map.
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Cartograms
• Spatial maps that show quantitative data.• Show more quantitative information than
structure diagrams.– Chloropleths, dot maps, flow maps.
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Icons
• Impart a single interpretation or meaning for a picture; a unique label for a visual representation.
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Photo-realistic Pictures
• Realistic images of an object or scene.
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Put into Multiple Categories
• No real agreement on these.
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Where should these go?
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Other Findings (Lohse et al. 94)
• Photorealistic images were least informative– Echos results in icon studies – better to use less complex,
more schematic images
• Graphs and tables are the most self-similar categories– Results in the literature comparing these are inconclusive
• Cartograms were hard to understand– Echos other results – better to put points into a framed
rectangle to aid spatial perception
• Temporal data more difficult to show than cyclic data– Recommend using animation for temporal data
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In honor of UCB’s FTN Effort This Thursday
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The NYTimes Illustrates Climate Change
• Cartoon• Illustrative Photograph• Graph• Graph (multiple views)• Interactive Graphs• Combination of Photo Illustration, Drawn
Illustration, Information Graphics• Video
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The NYTimes Illustrates Climate Change
• Cartoon– Carbon Neutral Confession– April 28, 2007– Ron Barrett– NYTimes– http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/weekinreview/29revkin.html?
scp=11&sq=global+warming&st=nyt
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The NYTimes Illustrates Climate Change
• Illustrative Photograph– A Disaster Epic (in Slo-Mo)– February 4, 2007– Macdiarmid/Getty Images– http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/weekinreview/04basic.html?
scp=9&sq=global+warming&st=nyt
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The NYTimes Illustrates Climate Change
• Information Visualization Graphic– Carbon Dioxide in the
atmosphere– April 23, 2006– Bill Marsh– NYTimes– http://www.nytimes.com/
imagepages/2006/04/23/weekinreview/20060423revkin_graphic.html
– http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/weekinreview/23revkin.html
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The NYTimes Illustrates Climate Change
• Static Graphic (Multiple Views)– Far Down the List of Worries– (from the story Yelling 'Fire' on a Hot
Planet by Revkin)– April 23, 2006– NYTimes– Bill Marsh– http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/
2006/04/23/weekinreview/20060423revkin2_graph.html
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The NYTimes Illustrates Climate Change
• Combination: Photo Illustration, Drawn Illustration, Information Graphics– A Battle Between the Bottle and the
Tap– July 15, 2007– Bill Marsh, Tony Cenicola– Satisfying the National Thirst ... With
Lots of Bottles– http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/weekinreview/
15marsh.html?scp=54&sq=global+warming&st=nyt
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The NYTimes Illustrates Climate Change
• Graphic– A Carbon Tide: Past, Present, and
Future– Bill Marsh– December 16, 2007– NYTimes– http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/12/16/
weekinreview/20071216_EMISSIONS_GRAPHIC.html
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The NYTimes Illustrates Climate Change
• Interactive flash graphics– October 1, 2007– Sea Ice in Retreat– Aigner, Corum, Nguyen– NYTimes– http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/10/01/
science/20071002_ARCTIC_GRAPHIC.html– http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/
topics/globalwarming/index.html
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The NYTimes Illustrates Climate Change
• Video– Solar City: A Co-op Goes
Green– January 23, 2008– Dwyer, Romero, Witty– NY Times– http://video.on.nytimes.com/?
fr_story=aa81e9284c77f01e48353c64b86fa7a0a21e887f