Benjamin B. Bederson
Ben Shneiderman
Martin Wattenberg
Abstract
Treemaps, a space-filling method for visualizing large hierarchical data sets, are receiving increasing attention. Several algorithms have been previously proposed to create more useful displays by controlling the aspect ratios of the rectangles that make up a treemap. While these algorithms do improve visibility of small items in a single layout, they introduce instability over time in the display of dynamically changing data, fail to preserve order of the underlying data, and create layouts that are difficult to visually search. In addition, continuous treemap algorithms are not suitable for displaying fixed-sized objects within them, such as images.This paper introduces a new "strip" treemap algorithm which addresses these shortcomings, and analyzes other "pivot" algorithms we recently developed showing the trade-offs between them. These ordered treemap algorithms ensure that items near each other in the given order will be near each other in the treemap layout. Using experimental evidence from Monte Carlo trials and from actual stock market data, we show that, compared to other layout algorithms, ordered treemaps are more stable, while maintaining relatively favorable aspect ratios of the constituent rectangles. A user study with 20 participants clarifies the human performance benefits of the new algorithms. Finally, we present quantum treemap algorithms, which modify the layout of the continuous treemap algorithms to generate rectangles that are integral multiples of an input object size. The quantum treemap algorithm has been applied to PhotoMesa, an application that supports browsing of large numbers of images.
- Baker, M. J. and Eick, S. G. 1995. Space-filling software visualization. J. Vis. Lang. Comput., 6, 119--133.Google Scholar
- Bederson, B. B. 2001. PhotoMesa: A zoomable image browser using quantum treemaps and bubblemaps. UIST 2001, ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, CHI Letters , 3, 2, pp. 71--80. Google Scholar
- Bruls, M., Huizing, K., and van Wijk, J. J. 2000. Squarified treemaps. In Proceedings of Joint Eurographics and IEEE TCVG Symposium on Visualization (TCVG 2000) IEEE Press, pp. 33--42.Google Scholar
- Edgar, G. A., Ewing, J. H., and Gehring, F. W. 1995. Measure, Topology, and Fractal Geometry. Springer Verlag.Google Scholar
- Fekete, J.-D. and Plaisant, C. 2002. Interactive Information Visualization to the Million. Tech. Rep. CS-TR-4320, Computer Science Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD. Google Scholar
- Hornof, A. J. 2001. Visual search and mouse pointing in labeled versus unlabeled two-dimensional visual hierarchies. ACM Trans. Computer-Human Interaction. Google Scholar
- Jin, L. and Banks, D. C. 1997. TennisViewer: A browser for competition trees. IEEE Comput. Graph. Appl. 17, 4, 63--65. Google Scholar
- Johnson, B. 1994. Treemaps: Visualizing Hierarchical and Categorical Data. Doctoral dissertation, Computer Science Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD. Google Scholar
- Jungmeister, W.-A. and Turo, D. 1992. Adapting Treemaps to Stock Portfolio Visualization. Tech. Rep. CS-TR-2996, Computer Science Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.Google Scholar
- Smartmoney Marketmap 2002. http://www.smartmoney.com/marketmap.Google Scholar
- Sheldon, R. A. 1997. A First Course in Probability. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
- Shneiderman, B. 1992. Tree visualization with treemaps: A 2-D space-filling approach. ACM Trans. Graph. 11, 1, 92--99. Google Scholar
- Shneiderman, B. and Wattenberg, M. 2001. Ordered treemap layouts. In Proceedings of IEEE Information Visualization (InfoVis 2001) New York: IEEE, pp. 73--78. Google Scholar
- Turo, D. and Johnson, B. 1992. Improving the visualization of hierarchies with treemaps: Design issues and experimentation. In Proceedings of IEEE Visualization (Visualization 1992) IEEE Press, pp. 124--131. Google Scholar
- Vernier, F. and Nigay, L. 2000. Modifiable treemaps containing variable-shaped units. In Proceedings of Extended Abstracts of IEEE Information Visualization (InfoVis 2000) New York: IEEE, pp. 28--35.Google Scholar
- Wattenberg, M. 1999. Visualizing the stock market. In Proceedings of Extended Abstracts of Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 99) ACM Press, pp. 188--189. Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Ordered and quantum treemaps: Making effective use of 2D space to display hierarchies
Recommendations
PhotoMesa: a zoomable image browser using quantum treemaps and bubblemaps
UIST '01: Proceedings of the 14th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technologyPhotoMesa is a zoomable image browser that uses a novel treemap algorithm to present large numbers of images grouped by directory, or other available metadata. It uses a new interaction technique for zoomable user interfaces designed for novices and ...
Ordered Treemap Layouts
INFOVIS '01: Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization 2001 (INFOVIS'01)Treemaps, a space-filling method of visualizing large hierarchical data sets, are receiving increasing attention. Several algorithms have been proposed to create more useful displays by controlling the aspect ratios of the rectangles that make up a ...
Voronoi Treemaps
INFOVIS '05: Proceedings of the Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE Symposium on Information VisualizationTreemaps are a well-known method for the visualization of attributed hierarchical data. Previously proposed Treemap layout algorithms are limited to rectangular shapes, which causes problems with the aspect ratio of the rectangles as well as with ...
Comments