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Information Visualization,

Edition 1 Perception for Design

Editors: By Colin Ware

Publication Date: 15 Feb 2000

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This is the first book to combine a strictly scientific approach to
human perception with a practical concern for the rules governing the
effective visual presentation of information. Surveying the research
of leading psychologists and neurophysiologists, the author isolates
key principles at work in vision and perception, and from them, derives
specific, effective visualization techniques, suitable for a wide range
of scenarios. You can apply these principles in ways to optimize how
others perceive visual information-resulting in improved clarity,
utility, and persuasiveness. Likewise, you can apply them to your
own exploratory data analyses to develop display strategies that
make data patterns and their significance easier to discern.

Information Visualization transcends the often-divergent approaches to
visualization taken by individual disciplines. It will prove a
fascinating, practical resource for anyone who uses graphical
presentation as a key to successful analysis and communication:
graphic artists, user interface/interaction designers, financial
analysts, data miners, and managers faced with information-intensive
challenges.

Key Features

* Brings current scientific insight to the study of data visualization.
* Explains multiple facets of visual perception: color, organization, space, motion, texture, and the relationship between images and words.
* Explores strategies for designing glyphs and icons to optimize a GUI's effectiveness and ease of use.
* Examines the distinctions between word-based and image-based perception and develops guidelines for choosing between verbal and graphical communication approaches.
* Presents successful techniques for displaying geographical and other data in multiple layers.
* Offers rules for designing easily navigable data spaces in VRML.
* Supports points with numerous illustrations, including over thirty color images.

About the author

By Colin Ware, Data Visualization Research Lab, University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA

Chapter 1: Foundation for a Science of Data Visualization

Visualization Stages

Experimental Semiotics Based on Perception

Semiotics of graphics

Pictures as sensory languages

Sensory vs arbitrary symbols

Properties of sensory and arbitrary representation

Testing claims about sensory representations

1. Psychophysics.

2. Cognitive psychology

3. Structural analysis

4. Cross cultural studies:

5. Child Studies

Arbitrary conventional representations

The study of arbitrary conventional symbols

Gibson's Affordance Theory

A Model of Perceptual Processing

Stage 1: Parallel Processing to extract low level properties of the visual scene.

Stage 2. Sequential goal directed processing

Types of Data

Entities

Relationships

Attributes of entities or relationships

Attribute quality

Attribute dimensions: 1D, 2D, 3D ...

Operations considered as data

Meta-data

Conclusion

Chapter 2: The Environment, Optics, Resolution and the Display

The Environment

Visible light

Ecological optics

Optical flow

Textured surfaces and texture gradients

The paint model of surfaces

The Eye

Visual angle defined

The lens

Focus and augmented reality systems

Focus in virtual reality displays

Chromatic aberration

Receptors

Simple acuities

Acuity distribution and the visual field

Spatial contrast sensitivity function

Visual stress

The Optimal Display

Aliasing

Number of dots

Super acuities and displays

Temporal requirements of the perfect display

Conclusion

Chapter 3: Lightness, Brightness, Contrast and Constancy

Neurons, Receptive Fields and Brightness Illusions

Simultaneous brightness contrast

Mach Bands

Chevreul illusion

Simultaneous Contrast and errors in reading maps

Contrast Effects and Artifacts in Computer Graphics

Luminance, Brightness, Lightness and Gamma

Luminance

Brightness

Monitor gamma

Adaptation, Contrast and Lightness Constancy

Contrast and Constancy

Contrast on Paper and on Screen

Perception of surface lightness

Lightness differences and the gray scale

Contrast crispening

Monitor illumination and monitor surrounds

Conclusion

References

Chapter 4: Color

Trichromacy Theory

Color Blindness

Color Measurement

Change of primaries

CIE System of Color Standards

Chromaticity coordinates

Color differences and uniform color spaces

Opponent process theory

Naming

Cross cultural naming

Unique Hues

Neurophysiology

Categorical Colors

Properties of color channels

Spatial sensitivity

Stereoscopic depth:

Temporal sensitivity

Form

Color Appearance

Saturation

Brown

Applications of Color in Visualization

Application 1: Color specification interfaces, and color spaces

Color spaces

Color naming

Color palette

Application 2: Color for labeling

Application 3: Color sequences for maps

Application 4: Color reproduction

Application 5: Color for exploring multi-dimensional discrete data

Conclusion

Chapter 5: Visual Attention and Information that Pops Out

Eye Movements

1) Saccadic movements

2) Smooth pursuit movements

3) Convergent movements

Accommodation

Visual Attention, Searching and System Monitoring.

Eye movements, attention and the useful field of view

Supervisory control

Visual monitoring strategies

The useful field of view

Tunnel vision and stress

The role of motion in attracting attention

Reading from the Iconic Buffer

Pre-attentive processing

Rapid area judgements

Coding with combinations of features

Conjunctions with spatial dimensions

Designing a symbol set

Neural Processing, Graphemes and Tuned Receptors

The grapheme

The Gabor Model and Texture in Visualization

Texture segmentation

Tradeoffs in information density - an uncertainty principle

Texture coding information

The primary perceptual dimensions of texture

The generation of distinct textures.

Spatial frequency channels, orthogonality and maps

Texture resolution

Texture contrast effects

Other dimensions of visual texture

Glyps and Multivariate Discrete Data

Integral/seperable dimension pairs

Multi-dimensional discrete data

Stars, whiskers and other glyphs.

Polarity of visual attributes

Conclusion

Chapter 6: Static and Moving Patterns

Gestalt laws

1) Proximity

2) Similarity

3) Continuity

4) Symmetry

5) Closure

6) Relative Size

7) Figure and Ground

More on Contours

Perceiving direction: representing vector fields

Perception of Transparency: Overlapping Data

Patterns in Motion

Form and contour in motion

Moving frames

Expressive motion

Perception of causality

Perception of animate motion

Enriching diagrams with simple animation

Conclusion

References

Chapter 7: Visual Objects and Data Objects

Image Based Object Recognition

Applications of images in user interfaces

Searching an image database

Personal image memory banks

Structure Based Object Recognition

Geon theory

Silhouettes

The Object Display and Object Based Diagrams

The geon diagram

Perceiving the Surface Shape of Objects

Spatial cues for representing scalar fields

1) Shading models

2) Surface texture

3) Stereoscopic viewing

4) Structure from motion

Integration of cues for surface shape

Interaction of shading and contour

Guidelines for displaying surfaces

Bivariate maps: lighting and surface color

Integration

Conclusion

Chapter 8: Space Perception and 3D Data Display

Depth Cue Theory

Perspective cues

Pictures seen from the wrong viewpoint

Occlusion

Depth of focus

Cast shadows

Shape from shading

Structure from motion

Eye convergence

Stereoscopic depth

Problems with stereoscopic displays

Frame cancellation

The vergence focus problem

Distant objects

Making effective stereoscopic displays

Cyclopean scale

Virtual eye separation

Artificial spatial cues

Depth cues in combination

Task Based Space Perception

1)Tracing data paths in 3D

2) Judging the morphology of surfaces. Surface target detection.

3) Patterns of points in 3D space.

4) Judging relative positions of objects in space

5) Judging the relative movement of self within the enviroment.

6) Judging the Up direction

7) The aesthetic impression of 3D space. (presence).

Conclusion

Chapter 9: Images and Words

Coding Words and Images

The nature of language

Sign language

Language is dynamic and distributed over time

Visual and Spoken Language

Images versus Words

Linking visual and verbal material

Deictic gestures

Using Animation

Visual momentum in animated sequences

Animated visual languages

Conclusion

References

Chapter 10: Visually Mediated Interaction with Data

Perceptual frames of reference

1) Retinotopic foveal

2) Stable feature frame. Egocentric coordinates

3) Environmental frame

4) World knowledge formulary

Visually mediated control

Choice reaction time

2D positioning and selection.

Skill learning

Control Compatibility

Vigilance

Rapid interaction with data

Interactive Data-Display

View navigation

Locomotion and viewpoint control

Spatial navigation metaphors

Wayfinding and map reading

Map orientation

Focus, context and scale

Spatial scale

Temporal scale

Distortion techniques

Rapid zooming techniques

Elision techniques

Multiple windows

Problem Solving and Visualization

Long term memory

Memory extension

Visual spatial reasoning

Concept maps and mind maps

Creative problem solving

Conclusion

ISBN: 9780080508740

Page Count: 464

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Visualisation researchers, visualisation designers and users of data visualisation packages