period of projectstarted in Februar 2010

involved peopleDipl.-Ing. Martin Spindler,
Dr.-Ing. Christian Tominski,
Prof. Dr. Heidrun Schumann and
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Raimund Dachselt

type of advancementfunded by the BMBF

Tangible Views for Information Visualization

Abstract

In information visualization, interaction is commonly carried out by using traditional input devices, and visual feedback is usually given on desktop displays. By contrast, recent advances in interactive surface technology suggest combining interaction and display functionality in a single device for a more direct interaction. With our work, we contribute to the seamless integration of interaction and display devices and introduce new ways of visualizing and directly interacting with information. Rather than restricting the interaction to the display surface alone, we explicitly use the physical three-dimensional space above it for natural interaction with multiple displays. For this purpose, we introduce tangible views as spatially aware lightweight displays that can be interacted with by moving them through the physical space on or above a tabletop display’s surface. Tracking the 3D movement of tangible views allows us to control various parameters of a visualization with more degrees of freedom. Tangible views also facilitate making multiple – previously virtual – views physically “graspable”. We introduce a number of interaction and visualization patterns for tangible views that constitute the vocabulary for performing a variety of common visualization tasks. Several implemented case studies demonstrate the usefulness of tangible views for widely used information visualization approaches and suggest the high potential of this novel approach to support interaction with complex visualizations.

Interaction Vocabulary

The design space for tangible views is more complex and richer than it looks at a first glance. Therefore, some fundamental principles need to be found and understood that help both users and system designers. In this respect, many interaction techniques, such as gestures, have been described and used previously. Our intention was to organize, combine, and extend these ideas in a meaningful way and with focus on tailoring them towards the domain of information visualization. This was one goal of our research and as a result we identified the following eight basic usage patterns for tangible views that not only comprise interaction aspects (tangible) but also representation aspects (view).
 
Interaction

Overview of the interaction vocabulary of tangible views.

 

Case Studies

In order to address the question of how the interaction vocabulary can be applied to information visualization, we have implemented some visualization approaches that demonstrate the versatility of tangible views.

Graph Visualization

 
Graphlens

High level of abstraction

Graphlens

Low level of abstraction

 
A tangible view is used for smoothly exploring a node-link-graph at different levels of abstraction. Users can naturally pan the view by using horizontal translation and freely change the degree of detail by vertical translation.

Scatter Plot

 
Scatterplot

Low degree of displacement

Scatterplot

Higher degree of displacement

 
A circular fisheye lens allows users to control the parameters lens location and degree of magnification by using horizontal and vertical translation, respectively. The fisheye lens’ degree of displacement is adjusted by horizontal rotation.

SpaceTimeCube Visualization

 
Timevis - Unwrapped Pencil View

Unwrapped Pencil View

 
Tangible views can be used to augment a map display with additional visual representations.
 
Timevis - Two-handed comparison

Two-handed comparison

 
After locking the focus of two tangible views to the same location by horizontally freezing, users can visually compare between the two views by lifting or lowering (vertical translation) them simultaneously.
 
Timevis - Before Flipping

Before Flipping: Visualization supporting the task of identification

Timevis - After Flipping

After Flipping: Visualization supporting the task of localization

 
By flipping a tangible view, users can choose between visualizations that support different tasks.
 

Related publications