Parallel Bubbles - Evaluation of Three Techniques for Representing Mixed Categorical and Continuous Data in Parallel Coordinates

Raphaël Tuor, Florian Evéquoz, Denis Lalanne

2018

Abstract

Parallel Coordinates are a widely used visualization method for multivariate data analysis tasks. In this paper we discuss the techniques that aim to enhance the representation of categorical data in Parallel Coordinates. We propose Parallel Bubbles, a method that improves the graphical perception of categorical dimensions in Parallel Coordinates by adding a visual encoding of frequency. Our main contribution consists in a user study that compares the performance of three variants of Parallel Coordinates, with similarity and frequency tasks. We base our design choices on the literature review, and on the research guidelines provided by Johansson et al (2016). Parallel Bubbles are a good trade-off between Parallel Coordinates and Parallel Sets in terms of performance for both types of tasks. Adding a visual encoding of frequency leads to a significant difference in performance for a frequency-based task consisting in assessing the most represented category. This study is the first of a series that will aim at testing the three visualization methods in tasks centered on the continuous axis, and where we assume that the performance of Parallel Sets will be worse.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Tuor R., Evéquoz F. and Lalanne D. (2018). Parallel Bubbles - Evaluation of Three Techniques for Representing Mixed Categorical and Continuous Data in Parallel Coordinates. In Proceedings of the 13th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISIGRAPP 2018) - Volume 2: IVAPP; ISBN 978-989-758-289-9, SciTePress, pages 252-263. DOI: 10.5220/0006615602520263

in Bibtex Style

@conference{ivapp18,
author={Raphaël Tuor and Florian Evéquoz and Denis Lalanne},
title={Parallel Bubbles - Evaluation of Three Techniques for Representing Mixed Categorical and Continuous Data in Parallel Coordinates},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 13th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISIGRAPP 2018) - Volume 2: IVAPP},
year={2018},
pages={252-263},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0006615602520263},
isbn={978-989-758-289-9},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 13th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISIGRAPP 2018) - Volume 2: IVAPP
TI - Parallel Bubbles - Evaluation of Three Techniques for Representing Mixed Categorical and Continuous Data in Parallel Coordinates
SN - 978-989-758-289-9
AU - Tuor R.
AU - Evéquoz F.
AU - Lalanne D.
PY - 2018
SP - 252
EP - 263
DO - 10.5220/0006615602520263
PB - SciTePress