UC Davis IDAV Publications Title Visualizing Visualization: A Model and Framework for Visualization Exploration Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6dw570zx Author Jankun-Kelly, T. J. Publication Date 2003 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Visualizing Visualization A Model and Framework for Visualization Exploration By T J JANKUN-KELLY B.S. (Harvey Mudd College) 1997 M.S. (University of California, Davis) 1999 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Computer Science in the OFFICE OF GRADUATE STUDIES of the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS Approved: Committee in charge 2003 –i– Visualizing Visualization A Model and Framework for Visualization Exploration Copyright c 2003 by T J Jankun-Kelly The pyramid stones A thousand generations Each one given thanks –ii– Acknowledgments Too many people have assisted me over my 21 years of education to thank individually, and to leave any one out would lessen their importance. Thus, this work is dedicated to each pyramid stone that formed the foundation of this work. This work was supported by NASA Ames Research Center through an NRA award under contract NAG2-1216, the National Science Foundation under contracts 9983641 (CAREER Awards), ACI 9982251 (LSSDSV program) and 0222991, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under ASCI ASAP Level-2 Memorandum Agreements B347878 and B503159, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Director, Office of Science, of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC03-76SF00098. Thanks go to Ayo- deji Demuren, the Center for Computational Sciences and Engineering at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Philip Smith, Arthur Toga, Robert Wilson, and the Visible Human Project for the data sets used in this work. –iii– Contents List of Figures viii List of Tables x List of Symbols xi Abstract 2 I Overview 3 1 Introduction 4 1.1 Problem Statement ................................ 5 1.1.1 Approach ................................. 5 1.1.2 Contribution ............................... 6 2 A Characterization of the Visualization Process 7 2.1 The Purpose of Visualization .......................... 7 2.1.1 Scientific Visualization .......................... 8 2.1.2 Information Visualization ........................ 9 2.2 The Visualization Exploration Process ..................... 10 2.2.1 Visualization Space Paths ........................ 12 2.2.2 Derivation Models ............................ 12 2.3 Modeling User Interaction with Visualization ................. 13 2.4 The Fundamental Operation of Visualization Exploration .......... 15 3 Overview of the Framework 17 3.1 Internal Representation ............................. 17 3.2 External Representation ............................. 18 3.3 Summary ..................................... 18 II Internal Representation 19 4 Visualization Models 20 4.1 Visualization Transform Models ......................... 20 4.1.1 Data-Flow Model ............................. 21 –iv– 4.1.2 Data State Model ............................ 22 4.1.3 Lattice Model ............................... 23 4.1.4 Evaluation ................................ 24 4.2 Visualization Data Models ............................ 25 4.3 Visualization Session Models .......................... 25 4.3.1 Visualization Space Path Model .................... 26 4.3.2 GRASPARC Model ........................... 27 4.3.3 General Data Exploration Model .................... 27 4.3.4 Evaluation ................................ 28 4.4 Summary ..................................... 29 5 A Visualization Exploration Process Model 30 5.1 Visualization Transformation Model ...................... 30 5.2 Visualization Session Model ........................... 32 5.3 Examples ..................................... 35 5.3.1 Image Graph Example .......................... 35 5.3.2 VisSheet Example ............................ 37 5.3.3 Dynamic Manipulation Interface Example ............... 37 5.4 Comparison .................................... 39 5.5 Summary ..................................... 40 6 Visualization Session Analysis 41 6.1 Introduction .................................... 41 6.2 Visualization Process Relationships ....................... 42 6.2.1 History Relationship ........................... 42 6.2.2 Session Result Derivation Relationship ................. 43 6.2.3 P-set Derivation Relationship ...................... 45 6.2.4 P-set Difference Relationship ...................... 45 6.2.5 Using Visualization Process Relationships ............... 46 6.3 Visualization Process Graphs .......................... 46 6.3.1 History Sequence Graph ......................... 47 6.3.2 Session Result Derivation Graph .................... 48 6.3.3 P-set Derivation Graph ......................... 49 6.3.4 P-set Difference Graph .......................... 50 6.4 Examples ..................................... 51 6.4.1 Image Graph Example .......................... 51 6.4.2 VisSheet Example ............................ 52 6.4.3 Dynamic Manipulation Interface Example ............... 52 6.5 Process Graph Analysis ............................. 56 6.5.1 Metrics .................................. 57 6.5.2 Patterns .................................. 57 6.6 Summary ..................................... 58 7 Representation 60 7.1 The P-set Model Representation ........................ 60 7.2 Using the Representation ............................ 61 –v– III External Representation 67 8 Principles for Visualization Exploration Interfaces 68 8.1 Components of User Interface Design ...................... 68 8.2 Classification of Visualization User Interfaces ................. 69 8.2.1 Interactive Control & Dynamic Manipulation Interfaces ....... 70 8.2.2 Data-flow Interfaces ........................... 70 8.2.3 Parameter-based Interfaces ....................... 71 8.2.4 Spreadsheet Interfaces .......................... 72 8.3 Desired Visualization User Interface Properties ................ 73 9 A Spreadsheet-like Interface for Visualization Exploration 76 9.1 Spreadsheet-based Visualization Representation ................ 77 9.1.1 Conceptual Model ............................ 77 9.1.2 Display and Navigation ......................... 79 9.2 Static Spreadsheet-based Exploration ...................... 81 9.3 Dynamic Spreadsheet-based Exploration .................... 83 9.3.1 Parameter and Value Operators ..................... 83 9.3.2 Animations ................................ 85 9.3.3 Scripting ................................. 86 9.4 Encapsulating and Sharing the Visualization Process ............. 88 9.4.1 History Display .............................. 89 9.4.2 On-Line Collaboration .......................... 89 9.4.3 Off-Line Collaboration .......................... 89 9.5 Further Examples ................................. 90 9.6 Summary ..................................... 94 IV Summary 95 10 A Framework for Visualization Exploration 96 10.1 The Core Framework ............................... 96 10.1.1 The VisualizationSession Class ..................... 97 10.1.2 The VisualizationSessionResult Class .................. 100 10.1.3 The Derivation Class ........................... 100 10.1.4 The VisualizationTransform Abstract Class .............. 101 10.1.5 The VisualizationParameterType and VisualizationResultType Ab- stract Classes ............................... 101 10.1.6 The VisualizationParameterValue and VisualizationResultValue Ab- stract Classes ............................... 102 10.1.7 The VisualizationOperator Abstract Class ............... 102 10.1.8 The VisualizationView Abstract Class ................. 102 10.2 The VisSheet Framework ............................ 103 10.2.1 The VisualizationSheetView Abstract Class .............. 103 10.2.2 The VisualizationSheetState Class ................... 106 10.2.3 The VisualizationSheetDelta Class ................... 107 10.2.4 The JFCVisualizationSheetView Class ................. 108 10.3 The Framework in Action ............................ 108 –vi– 10.3.1 A Web-based Sheet-like Interface for Visualization .......... 109 10.3.2 Web-based Encapsulation of Visualizations .............. 110 11 Conclusions 114 11.1 Effectiveness ................................... 114 11.2 Impact ....................................... 116 Bibliography 117 –vii– List of Figures 2.1 The knowledge crystallization cycle. ...................... 10 2.2 Visualization exploration cycles. ........................ 11 3.1 Overview of the Visualization Exploration Framework. ............ 17 4.1 Characterizations of a visualization transform in different models. ...... 22 5.1 Visualization session results in the P-set Model. ................ 35 5.2 Representation of a brain vessel visualization. ................. 36 5.3 Representation of a spreadsheet-based visualization. ............. 38 5.4 Augmenting a visualization system with the model. .............. 39 6.1 Sample visualization process graphs. ...................... 47 6.2 Image Graph visualization process graphs. ................... 51 6.3 VisSheet visualization process graphs. ..................... 52 6.4 BGP visualization process graphs. ....................... 53 6.5 P-set difference graph for the BGP visualization. ............... 54 6.6 Important results from the BGP exploration session. ............. 55 6.7 Different visual patterns exhibited by visualization process graphs. ..... 57 7.1 DTD for the P-set Model representation. .................... 62 7.2 DTD for the P-set Model