A scalable framework for information visualization

Abstract

The paper describes major concepts of a scalable information visualization framework. We assume that the exploration of heterogeneous information spaces at arbitrary levels of detail requires a suitable preprocessing of information quantities, the combination of different graphical interfaces and the illustration of the frame of reference of given information sets. The innovative features of our system include: dynamic hierarchy computation and user controlled refinement of those hierarchies for preprocessing unstructured information spaces; a new Focus+Context technique for visualizing complex hierarchy graphs; a new paradigm for visualizing information structures within their frame of reference; and a new graphical interface that utilizes textual similarities to arrange objects of high dimensional information space in 3-dimensional visualization space.