Graph Visualizations in Immersive Environments. Data Visualization & Mobile Interaction Research.

The Graph Browser is a class of techniques to display datasets combining structural data and text, such as labels on a molecular model, feature annotations on a geographic point cloud, or textual descriptions of nodes in graphs representing social networks, coauthorship, etc. The goal is to combine a shared large display alongside legible text for each individual. This includes 2D Graph Visualization on Stereographic Displays. Our motivation for this project is to investigate alternative ways of making use of stereo displays for graph visualization. We propose a technique called stereoscopic highlighting that utilizes the visual emphasis provided by virtual depth to highlight points of interest on a 2D node and link diagram. Our technique utilizes stereoscopic depth to highlight regions of interest in a 2D graph by projecting these parts onto a plane closer to the graph without resorting to other highlighting techniques like color or motion, which can then be reserved to encode other data attributes. This mechanism of stereoscopic highlighting also enables focus+context views by juxtaposing a detailed image of a region of interest with the overall graph, which is visualized at a further depth with correspondingly less detail.

Further research by explored how personal tablet displays could be used to view textual metadata associated with nodes in the graph. By presenting metadata on the individual tablets instead of the shared screen of the AlloSphere, we avoid occlusion of the graph that would occur with overlaid metadata. Our tablet solution provides an optimized reading experience for users while also promoting collaborative interaction via a variety of features, such as highlighting of each user's viewing history and pushing data from the tablet to the AlloSphere surface for all users to view.

Key faculty and ARG researchers include Dr. Basak Alper, Dr. Charlie Roberts, Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, and Professor Tobias Höllerer.