Browse Books

Reviewer: Angelica de Antonio

This excellent book is written in an accessible language and is well structured, making it a fine textbook for an introductory course on information visualization (IV). Extensive use of good examples and figures will help readers quickly grasp the essentials of the different techniques and concepts presented. The first chapter defines basic concepts of IV. It presents the main uses of visual representations: aids to understanding abstract data and producing better information. Also, it establishes the main criteria that a good visual representation has to meet. Chapter 2 defines a reference model for the process of generating a visual representation, with three stages that are further described: data pre-processing and transformations; visual mapping; and view creation. Then, it presents scatter boxes and bar charts, the most-used techniques for the representation of univariate, bivariate, and trivariate collections of linear data. Given that the choice of good visual mapping is a fundamental step in creating visual representations, chapter 3 is devoted to some aspects of human perception that can be exploited for making a good decision, such as the pre-attentive processing of visual attributes in iconic memory or gestalt principles. Following the visual representation of basic datasets presentation, chapter 4 goes one step further in complexity, discussing possibilities for the representation of multivariate data. Three types of techniques are described, together with some successful applications: geometric (parallel coordinates, scatter plot matrices, TableLens, and parallel sets), iconic (star plots and Chernoff faces), and pixel based. Going beyond linear data, chapter 5 faces the problem of representing networks or hierarchies, particularly when there are many nodes or edges that call for layout optimization or complexity reduction techniques. Some of the described representation techniques are cone trees, botanical trees, and treemaps. Chapter 6 deals with the World Wide Web (WWW), a particularly relevant domain in which network visualization techniques are applied. The representation of site maps, access log data, results retrieved by search engines, and blog interactions are all interesting problems that are pushing researchers in IV to find new techniques. Interaction with visual representations is discussed in chapter 7. Two different types of interactions are identified: manipulations of the view, with three subcategories of interaction techniques?scrolling, overview plus details, and focus plus context?and transformations of the source data and the mapping process, covering the most usual techniques?filtering, data reordering, dynamic queries, magic lens, and attribute explorer. Finally, Mazza stresses the importance of evaluating visual representations of information. Chapter 8 describes the main evaluation techniques?analytic methods and empirical evaluations?that come from the discipline of human-computer interaction (HCI). All in all, this book is a good starting point for understanding the goal of IV, getting a broad overview of the field, comprehending the main techniques proposed to date, and raising interest in future developments. Online Computing Reviews Service