PhDThe exploration of large information spaces has remained a challenging task even
though the proliferation of database management systems and the state-of-the art
retrieval algorithms is becoming pervasive. Signi cant research attention in the
multimedia domain is focused on nding automatic algorithms for organising digital
image collections into meaningful structures and providing high-semantic image
indices. On the other hand, utilisation of graphical and interactive methods from
information visualisation domain, provide promising direction for creating e cient
user-oriented systems for image management. Methods such as exploratory browsing
and query, as well as intuitive visual overviews of image collection, can assist
the users in nding patterns and developing the understanding of structures and
content in complex image data-sets.
The focus of the thesis is combining the features of automatic data processing
algorithms with information visualisation. The rst part of this thesis focuses on
the layout method for displaying the collection of images indexed by low-level visual
descriptors. The proposed solution generates graphical overview of the data-set as
a combination of similarity based visualisation and random layout approach.
Second part of the thesis deals with problem of visualisation and exploration for
hierarchical organisation of images. Due to the absence of the semantic information,
images are considered the only source of high-level information. The content preview
and display of hierarchical structure are combined in order to support image
retrieval. In addition to this, novel exploration and navigation methods are proposed
to enable the user to nd the way through database structure and retrieve
the content.
On the other hand, semantic information is available in cases where automatic
or semi-automatic image classi ers are employed. The automatic annotation of
image items provides what is referred to as higher-level information. This type
of information is a cornerstone of multi-concept visualisation framework which is
developed as a third part of this thesis. This solution enables dynamic generation
of user-queries by combining semantic concepts, supported by content overview and
information ltering.
Comparative analysis and user tests, performed for the evaluation of the proposed
solutions, focus on the ways information visualisation a ects the image content
exploration and retrieval; how e cient and comfortable are the users when
using di erent interaction methods and the ways users seek for information through
di erent types of database organisation
