Y. K. Leung
Abstract
One of the common problems associated with large computer-based information systems is the relatively small window through which an information space can be viewed. Increasing interest in recent years has been focused on the development of distortion-oriented presentation techniques to address this problem. However, the growing number of new terminologies and techniques developed have caused considerable confusion to the graphical user interface designer, consequently making the comparison of these presentation techniques and generalization of empirical results of experiments with them very difficult, if not impossible. This article provides a taxonomy of distortion-oriented techniques which demonstrates clearly their underlying relationships. A unified theory is presented to reveal their roots and origins. Issues relating to the implementation and performance of these techniques are also discussed.
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Index Terms
- A review and taxonomy of distortion-oriented presentation techniques
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Reviews
Brad A. Myers
A popular approach to dealing with the information explosion is to visualize the data, often using graphics. When a large amount of data is to be presented, either the detail must be significantly reduced, or the user must repeatedly scroll the view to find the data of interest. A number of researchers have investigated distortion-oriented displays to address this problem. A distortion-oriented display “concurrently presents local detail together with global context at reduced magnification, in a format which allows dynamic interactive positioning of the local detail without severely compromising spatial relationships.” The best-known examples of these techniques include Furnas's Fisheye views and Mackinlay, Robertson, and Card's Perspective Wall. These approaches are presented in this paper, but other work, such as the map-based techniques of Sarkar and Brown, has been left out. It seems that new distortion-oriented techniques have been presented at every recent conference, and two new ones appeared at the recent ACM UIST '94 conference, so no paper could be comprehensive. The paper presents a useful comparison of the transformation and magnification functions of some of the techniques, along with the complete mathematical formulas in an appendix. The issues of how to decide when to use the different techniques, and guides for future research as to what kinds of new techniques are needed, are not adequately addressed.
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