Table Of ContentInformation Visualisation and
Virtual Environments
Springer-Verlag London Ltd.
Chaomei Chen
Information
Visualisation
and Virtual
Environments
With 144 Figures
Springer
Chaomei Chen, PhD, MSc, BSc
Department of Information Systems and Computing,
Brunel University, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK
ISBN 978-1-4471-3624-8 ISBN 978-1-4471-3622-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4471-3622-4
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Chen, Chomei
Information visualisation and virtual environments
1. Information display systems 2. Virtual reality 3. Computer
Graphics Technological innovations
I. Title
006.7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chen, Chomei, 1960-
Information visualisation and virtual environments / Chaomei Chen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Information display systems. 2. Visualization. 3. Virtual
reality. I. Title.
TK7882.I6C477 1999 99-12444
006-dc21 CIP
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(lj Springer-Verlag London Limited 1999
Originally published by Springer-Verlag London in 1999.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1999
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Contents
Preface ...................................................... ix
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1
1.1 Geographie Visualisation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3
1.2 Abstract Information Visualisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 15
1.3 Optimal Information Foraging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 16
1.4 Exploring Cyberspaees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 17
1.5 Soeial Interaction in Online Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 18
1.6 Information Visualisation Resourees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 20
1.7 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 22
2 Finding Salient Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 27
2.1 Virtual Struetures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 28
2.2 The Use of WordNet ................................... 32
2.3 Struetural Analysis and Modelling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 37
2.4 Generalised Similarity Analysis: Introduetion. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 42
2.5 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 58
3 Spatial Layout and Graph Drawing Algorithms ................ 61
3.1 Clustering and Sealing .................................. 61
3.2 Trees, Cone Trees, and Hyperbolie Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 66
3.3 Drawing General Undirected Graphs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 70
3.4 Examples of Graph Drawing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 81
3.5 Graph Drawing Resourees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 89
4 Information Visualisation Systems and Applications. . . . . . . . . .. 93
4.1 Navigation in Large Information Struetures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 93
4.2 Visualising Seareh Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 98
4.3 Spatial Metaphors for Information Exploration. . . . . . . . . . .. 105
4.4 Visualising the Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 113
4.5 The Web and Online Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 121
4.6 Online Resourees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 135
4.7 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 136
5 Individual Differences in Visual Navigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 139
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 139
5.2 A Semantically Organised Virtual Environment. . . . . . . . . . .. 146
vii
viii Information Visualisation and Virtual Environments
5.3 Study I: Spatial Ability ................................. 152
5.4 Study 11: Associative Memory and Visual Memory .......... 164
5.5 Study III: Associative Memory and Spatial Ability .......... 168
5.6 Summary ............................................ 171
6 Virtual Environments ..................................... 175
6.1 Informal Communication and Mutual Awareness ........... 176
6.2 Information Spaces and Social Spaces ..................... 181
6.3 The StarWalker Virtual Environment ..................... 189
6.4 Social Interaction in StarWalker ......................... 199
6.5 Conclusions .......................................... 207
Appendix: List of Figures ..................................... 213
Index ...................................................... 197
Preface
This book presents a comprehensive introduction to information
visualisation and virtual environments. It not only provides a systematic
overview of the two, but also reflects the latest research and development in
the convergence of the two fields. It can be used as the main text, or a major
source of references for courses in information visualisation, multimedia
and virtual environments, human-computer interaction, hypertext/hyper
media, and information retrieval, and also provides a useful source of
reference for consultants and practitioners.
During the course of the book, many significant, but so far isolated,
research fronts are unified into a generic framework. As wen as explaining
underlying principles and details of a number of information visualisation
techniques, it also highlights how these techniques can be adapted to meet
specific requirements.
Information visualisation is growing fast, both as a field of research and
as an industry with tremendous potential. Its interdisciplinary nature is
becoming increasingly clear - the literature of information visualisation
spans the spheres of computer graphics, electronic engineering, informa
tion systems, geography, and information science. Studies of information
visualisation may focus on one or more aspects, including visual
representation criteria, data structures and algorithms, rendering techni
ques, usability and evaluation, and work domain analysis. This makes a
synthesis of such a diverse literature necessary for researchers and
practitioners to identify and adapt the most suitable information
visualisation solutions to their particular needs.
Virtual environments provide a unique medium for people to commu
nicate and interact with each other across the boundary between
geographical locations. Virtual environments are more than the technolo
gical infrastructure that enables users to communicate and interact. It is the
experience of transcending geographical distance in the physical world, and
constructing a mutual understanding and social dynamic that makes them
particularly valuable. However, until recently, studies focusing on such
experience have been relatively rare.
The focus of this book is not only on individual techniques, but also on
the inspiration, extensibility, and adaptability resulting from a synthesis of
these techniques and design principles. Special attention is paid to the role
of information visualisation as an enabling technology in the design of new
generations of virtual environments. The book is also intended to reflect the
ix
x Information Visualisation and Virtual Environments
evolution of our own research in the areas of information visualisation,
spatial hypertext, and semantically organised virtual environments.
The main topics are presented in each of six chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction, introduces a number of intriguing examples of
historical and geographie visualisations, including the loss of Napoleon's
army, ARPANET maps, NSFNET traffic, and the MBone network.
Information foraging and cognitive maps are highlighted as a major area
of focus - visual navigation and information foraging in an abstract
information space.
Chapter 2: Finding Salient Structures, intro duces methods commonly
used for extracting implicit structures, including automated construction of
hypertext and the role of information retrieval models, especially the well
known Vector Space model and Latent Semantic Indexing model. The use of
Wo rdNet, structural analysis and modelling, and an introduction to
Generalised Similarity Analysis (GSA) are also included.
Chapter 3: Spatial Layout and Graph Drawing Algorithms, focuses on
aesthetic criteria and generation of spatial layouts and graph drawing.
Clustering and scaling algorithms are introduced as a general background.
Visualisation strategies for data structures such as hierarchies and
networks are considered, and graph-drawing algorithms for general
undirected graphs, especially the spring-embedder model and its variants,
are discussed in detail.
Chapter 4: Information Visualisation Systems and Applications, the
largest chapter in this book, classifies representative information visualisa
tion systems into various categories, to clarify the rationale behind using
particular information visualisation techniques. Categories include visua
lisation of search results, visualisation for exploration information spaces,
and visualisation of the Web and the literature of a subject domain. The
transition from visuaIising abstract information spaces to the concept of
online communities and the social dynamics of a virtual environment is the
focus of the last section of the chapter - 'The Web and onIine communities'.
Chapter 5: Individual Differences in Visual Navigation, focuses on the
interrelationships between cognitive factors, such as spatial ability,
associative memory, and visual memory, and the use of a user interface,
in which a semantic space is visualised as an associative network. Three
empirical studies incrementally investigate the interrelationships, based on
factor-referenced tests of these cognitive abiIities.
Chapter 6: Virtual Environments, explores the fundamental issues
concerning the design of virtual environment and, especially, the role of
abstract information spaces. It includes several examples of virtual
environments, in particular, the design of StarWalker, a unique, three
dimensional virtual environment developed from our own research, and
initial experience ofits use on the Web. Dialogues in the StarWalkervirtual
environment are analysed with reference to theories on the duality of
discourse structure and social context. In the final chapter, the notion of
social navigation and its realisation in StarWalker raises a number of
research issues concerning the integration of information visualisation and
virtual environments.
