The State of the Art in Cartograms

Cartograms combine statistical and geographical information in thematic maps, where areas of geographical regions (e.g., countries, states) are scaled in proportion to some statistic (e.g., population, income). Cartograms make it possible to gain insight into patterns and trends in the world around us and have been very popular visualizations for geo-referenced data for over a century. This work surveys cartogram research in visualization, cartography and geometry, covering a broad spectrum of different cartogram types: from the traditional rectangular and table cartograms, to Dorling and diffusion cartograms. A particular focus is the study of the major cartogram dimensions: statistical accuracy, geographical accuracy, and topological accuracy. We review the history of cartograms, describe the algorithms for generating them, and consider task taxonomies. We also review quantitative and qualitative evaluations, and we use these to arrive at design guidelines and research challenges

Dynamic Composite Data Physicalization Using Wheeled Micro-Robots

This paper introduces dynamic composite physicalizations, a new class of physical visualizations that use collections of self-propelled objects to represent data. Dynamic composite physicalizations can be used both to give physical form to well-known interactive visualization techniques, and to explore new visualizations and interaction paradigms. We first propose a design space characterizing composite physicalizations based on previous work in the fields of Information Visualization and Human Computer Interaction. We illustrate dynamic composite physicalizations in two scenarios demonstrating potential benefits for collaboration and decision making, as well as new opportunities for physical interaction. We then describe our implementation using wheeled micro-robots capable of locating themselves and sensing user input, before discussing limitations and opportunities for future work

Exemplary Design Research

In this paper, we will look at what role a research program and an interventionist research strategy based on design experiments may play for the advancement of knowledge relevant to design and designers. We suggest the notion of exemplary design research driven by programs and experiments and by this we refer to research based on the explicit formulation of design programs that act as a frame and foundation for carrying out series of design experiments. It is 'exemplary' in the sense that it enables critical dissemination primarily by creating examples of what could be done and how, i.e. examples that both express the possibilities and characteristics of the design program as well as more general suggestions about a certain (change to) design practice

MyBrush: Brushing and Linking with Personal Agency

We extend the popular brushing and linking technique by incorporating personal agency in the interaction. We map existing research related to brushing and linking into a design space that deconstructs the interaction technique into three components: source (what is being brushed), link (the expression of relationship between source and target), and target (what is revealed as related to the source). Using this design space, we created MyBrush, a unified interface that offers personal agency over brushing and linking by giving people the flexibility to configure the source, link, and target of multiple brushes. The results of three focus groups demonstrate that people with different backgrounds leveraged personal agency in different ways, including performing complex tasks and showing links explicitly. We reflect on these results, paving the way for future research on the role of personal agency in information visualization

Dynamic visualization of sensor measurements: Context based approach

An amount of data measured with sensors is increasing year to year. Every sensor has a location and sensor data are mostly measured for long time period, so visualization of location and regular updating of visualized value is necessary. Various characteristics (e.g. meteorological conditions) can be automatically read at frequent intervals and those readings can be aggregated into the interactive map visualization. This map must be not only legible but also understandable also for readers that are experts in their specialisation, however, not in cartography. This paper presents possibilities of using and implementation of adaptive cartography and visual seeking principles for interactive visualization and analysis of sensor based data measured in real time. Our solution is described on experimental application for precise farming that we developed during research project Agrisensor