Mathematical Sciences: Data Visualization using Focusing andLinking

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To display complicated information, a common instinct is to draw a picture that is equally complicated. Yet, minimizing distraction by details is the goal. Translating natural and effective renderings of unembellished important structures to computer presentation is conceptually and practically a very difficult problem. Two basic ideas underlie the approach here: First, depicting several views and then drawing the links to identify the same object in the several views gives a sense of the position of the object vis a vis others even in many dimensions. Second, taking natural groupings of objects and examining their interrelationships allows focusing on the finer structure of the group. From these two basic principles, a conceptually coherent approach to viewing multidimensional data can be derived. Then actual methodology based on focusing and linking can be developed; user interface architectures to make efficient use of these techniques can be tried and prototypes can be implemented.