Confluent Orthogonal Drawings of Syntax Diagrams

We provide a pipeline for generating syntax diagrams (also called railroad diagrams) from context free grammars. Syntax diagrams are a graphical representation of a context free language, which we formalize abstractly as a set of mutually recursive nondeterministic finite automata and draw by combining elements from the confluent drawing, layered drawing, and smooth orthogonal drawing styles. Within our pipeline we introduce several heuristics that modify the grammar but preserve the language, improving the aesthetics of the final drawing.Comment: GD 201

Automatic Layout and Label Management for UML Sequence Diagrams

Sequence diagrams belong to the most commonly used types of UML diagrams. There is research on desirable aesthetics, but to our knowledge no published layout algorithms, although several have been developed. This might be due to the rigid specifcation of sequence diagrams that seems to make laying them out quite easy. However, as we argue here, naive algorithms do not always produce desirable solutions. We present a layout algorithm that can compute the order of lifelines according to different optimization criteria. We also look at the problem of diagram size by introducing vertical compaction to sequence diagrams and by applying label management to compact them horizontally. We evaluate our methods with 50 real-world sequence diagrams

Evaluating the Comprehension of Euler Diagrams

We describe an empirical investigation into layout criteria that can help with the comprehension of Euler diagrams. Euler diagrams are used to represent set inclusion in applications such as teaching set theory, database querying, software engineering, filing system organisation and bio-informatics. Research in automatically laying out Euler diagrams for use with these applications is at an early stage, and our work attempts to aid this research by informing layout designers about the importance of various Euler diagram aesthetic criteria. The three criteria under investigation were: contour jaggedness, zone area inequality and edge closeness. Subjects were asked to interpret diagrams with different combinations of levels for each of the criteria. Results for this investigation indicate that, within the parameters of the study, all three criteria are important for understanding Euler diagrams and we have a preliminary indication of the ordering of their importance

Soil profiles: the more we see, the more we understand

The aesthetics of soils have fascinated soil scientists in all times. Since the late 1800s soil profile drawings, paintings and photographs have been depicted in hundreds of text books. The first soil profile depictions were simple diagrams illustrating different layers and soil processes. Photographs started to appear in textbooks at the end of the nineteenth century. In the 1950s, several books contained water paintings and from the 1970s onwards text books had colour photographs. Soil profile depictions were merely used to illustrate different orders in a classification system. Since the 1990s, efforts have been made to depict the soil profile in 3D. The depiction of soil profiles follows the understanding of the key properties and processes that have formed a soil

Aesthetic Perspectives in Group Decision and Negotiation Practice

This paper explores the role of the aesthetics in Group Decision and Negotiation (GDN) practice, specifically how it affects the methods and the cognitive processes in the architectural field. We intend aesthetics as “scientia cognitionis sensitivæ”, a particular process and way of knowing and experiencing the problem through senses, imagination and empathy. We argue that (a) aesthetics and aesthetic features can (and do) convey knowledge about the problem; (b) we can distinguish between two kinds of aesthetics, one of the process and one of the product and (c) the aes-thetics can contribute to create a “plural subject”. The issue is investigated through a decision problem about the transformation of an iconic building in the centre of Turin (Italy), in two ways: (1) by merging the Strategic Choice Approach (SCA) with architectural design and (2) by approaching the same issue with Storytelling, as a method for problem-based instruction. Considering the aesthetics as a specific form of language, the paper offers innovative considerations about the role of repre-sentation and visualisation tools and models—drawing, scheme, diagrams, but also video and text—as support for group decisions and negotiations, in the construction of knowledge within decisional processes

The Book of Acoustics

The Book of Acoustics was created in collaboration with leading acousticians, neuroscientists and designers. It explores the science of sound and provides guidance for designing with acoustics. Complete with facts, figures, diagrams and expert insight, it is the ideal starting point for architectural and interior design projects and sheds light on the interplay between engineering and aesthetics

Evaluating Visual Realism in Drawing Areas of Interest on UML Diagrams

Areas of interest (AOIs) are defined as an addition to UML diagrams: groups of elements of system architecture diagrams that share some common property. Some methods have been proposed to automatically draw AOIs on UML diagrams. However, it is not clear how users perceive the results of such methods as compared to human-drawn areas of interest. We present here a process of studying and improving the perceived quality of computer-drawn AOIs. We qualitatively evaluated how users perceive the quality of computer- and human-drawn AOIs, and used these results to improve an existing algorithm for drawing AOIs. Finally, we designed a quantitative comparison for AOI drawings and used it to show that our improved renderings are closer to human drawings than the original rendering algorithm results. The combined user evaluation, algorithmic improvements, and quantitative comparison support our claim of improving the perceived quality of AOIs rendered on UML diagrams.