Mélange: space folding for visual exploration

IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph. 2010 May-Jun;16(3):468-83. doi: 10.1109/TVCG.2009.86.

Abstract

Navigating in large geometric spaces-such as maps, social networks, or long documents-typically requires a sequence of pan and zoom actions. However, this strategy is often ineffective and cumbersome, especially when trying to study and compare several distant objects. We propose a new distortion technique that folds the intervening space to guarantee visibility of multiple focus regions. The folds themselves show contextual information and support unfolding and paging interactions. We conducted a study comparing the space-folding technique to existing approaches and found that participants performed significantly better with the new technique. We also describe how to implement this distortion technique and give an in-depth case study on how to apply it to the visualization of large-scale 1D time-series data.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Computer Graphics*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted
  • Information Storage and Retrieval / methods*
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • User-Computer Interface*