Abstract
Many information structures are represented as two-dimensional networks (connected graphs) of links and nodes. Because these network tend to be large and quite complex, people often perfer to view part or all of the network at varying levels of detail. Hierarchical clustering provides a framework for viewing the network at different levels of detail by superimposing a hierarchy on it. Nodes are grouped into clusters, and clusters are themselves place into other clusters. Users can then navigate these clusters until an appropiate level of detail is reached. This article describes an experiment comparing two methods for viewing hierarchically clustered networks. Traditional full-zoom techniques provide details of only the current level of the hierarchy.
In contrast, fisheye views, generated by the “variable-zoom” algorithm described in this article, provide information about higher levels as well. Subjects using both viewing methods were given problem-solving tasks requiring them to navigate a network, in this case, a simulated telephone system, and to reroute links in it. Results suggest that the greater context provided by fisheye views significantly improved user performance. Users were quicker to complete their task and made fewer unnecessary navigational steps through the hierarchy. This validation of fisheye views in important for designers of interfaces to complicated monitoring systems, such as control rooms for supervisory control and data acquistion systems, where efficient human performance is often critical. However, control room operators remained concerned about the size and visibility tradeoffs between the fine room operators remained concerned about the size and visibility tradeoffs between the fine detail provided by full-zoom techniques and the global context supplied by fisheye views. Specific interface feaures are required to reconcile the differences.
- BARTRAM, L., OVANS, R., DILL, J., AND HAVENS, W. 1994. Intelligent graphical user interfaces for time-critical systems. In Proceedings of Graphics Interface (Banff, Canada, May). Morgan Kaufmann, San Mateo, Calif.Google Scholar
- BEARD,D.V.AND WALKER, J. Q. 1990. Navigational techniques to improve the display of large two-dimensional spaces. Behav. Inf. Tech. 9, 6, 451-466.Google Scholar
- BERGE, C. 1973. Graphs and Hypergraphs. North-Holland, Amsterdam. Google Scholar
- EGAN, D. E., REMDE, J. R., GOMEZ, L. M., LANDAUER, T. K., EBERHARDT, J., AND LOCHBAUM, C. C. 1989. Formative design-evaluation of SuperBook. ACM Trans. Inf. Syst. 7, 1, 30-57. Google Scholar
- FAIRCHILD, K. M., POLTROCK, S. E., AND FURNAS, G. W. 1988. SemNet: Three-dimensional graphic representations of large knowledge bases. In Cognitive Science and Its Application for Human-Computer Interface, R. Guindon, Ed. Elsevier, New York, 201-233.Google Scholar
- FEINER, S. 1988. Seeing the forest for the trees: Hierarchical display of hypertext structure. In Proceedings of the Conference on Office Information Systems 1988, (Palo Alto, Calif., Mar. 23-25). ACM, New York, 205-212. Google Scholar
- FEINER, S., NAGY, S., AND VAN DAM, A. 1982. An experimental system for creating and presenting interactive graphical documents. ACM Trans. Graph. 1, 1, 59-77. Google Scholar
- FURNAS, G. W. 1986. Generalized fisheye views. In Proceedings of ACM CHI 86 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Boston, Mass., Apr. 13-17). ACM Press, New York, 16-23. Google Scholar
- HAREL, D. 1988. On visual formalisms. Commun. ACM 31, 5 (May), 514-530. Google Scholar
- JOHNSON,B.AND SHNEIDERMAN, B. 1991. Tree-maps: A space-filling approach to the visual-ization of hierarchical information structures. In Proceedings of IEEE Visualization 91 (San Diego, Calif., Oct. 22-25). IEEE, New York, 284-291. Google Scholar
- KALTENBACH, M., ROBILLARD, F., AND FRASSON, C. 1991. Screen management in hypertext systems with rubber sheet layouts. In Proceedings of Hypertext 91 (San Antonio, Texas, Dec. 15-18). ACM, New York, 91-105. Google Scholar
- MACKINLAY, J. D., ROBERTSON, G. G., AND CARD, S. K. 1991. The perspective wall: Detail and context smoothly integrated. In Proceedings of ACM CHI 91 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (New Orleans, La., Apr. 28-May 2). ACM Press, New York, 173-179. Google Scholar
- NOIK, E. G. 1993. Exploring large hyperdocuments: Fisheye views of nested networks. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia (Seattle, Wash., Nov. 14-18). ACM Press, New York, 192-195. Google Scholar
- RAO,R.AND CARD, S. K. 1994. The Table Lens: Merging graphical and symbolic representa-tions in an interactive focus 1 context visualization for tabular information. In Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Boston, Mass., Apr. 24-28). ACM Press, New York, 318-322. Google Scholar
- REMDE, J. R., GOMEZ, L. M., AND LANDAUER, T. K. 1987. SuperBook: An automatic tool for information exploration:Hypertext? In Proceedings of the ACM Hypertext 87 Conference (Chapel Hill, N.C., Nov. 13-15). ACM Press, New York, 175-188. Google Scholar
- ROBERTSON, G. G., MACKINLAY, J. D., AND CARD, S. K. 1991. Cone trees: Animated 3D visualizations of hierarchical information. In Proceedings of ACM CHI 91 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (New Orleans, La., Apr. 28-May 2). ACM Press, New York, 189-194. Google Scholar
- SARKAR,M.AND BROWN, M. H. 1992. Graphical fisheye views of graphs. In Proceedings of ACM CHI 92 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Monterey, Calif., May 3-7). ACM Press, New York, 83-91. Google Scholar
- SARKAR, M., SNIBBE, S., TVERSKY, O., AND REISS, S. 1993. Stretching the rubber sheet: A metaphor for visualizing large layouts on small screens. In Proceedings of UIST 93 (Atlanta, Ga., Nov. 3-5). ACM, New York, 81-91. Google Scholar
- SCHAFFER,D.AND GREENBERG, S. 1993. Sifting through hierarchical information. In Pro-ceedings of Posters and Short Papers: ACM INTERCHI 93 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Amsterdam, Holland). ACM Press, New York. Google Scholar
- SCHAFFER, D., ZUO, Z., BARTRAM, L., DILL, J., DUBS, S., GREENBERG, S., AND ROSEMAN, M. 1993. Comparing fisheye and full-zoom techniques for navigation of hierarchically clustered networks. In Proceedings of Graphics Interface 93 (Toronto, Canada, May 19-21). Morgan Kaufmann, San Mateo, Calif., 87-96.Google Scholar
- SHNEIDERMAN, B. 1991. Tree-maps. Excerpts from the IEEE 1991 Visualization Video. IEEE, New York.Google Scholar
- SMITH, R. B., O'SHEA, T., O'MALLEY, C., SCANLON, E., AND TAYLOR, J. 1989. Preliminary experiences with a distributed, multi-media, problem environment. In Proceedings of the 1st European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (EC-CSCW 89) (Gatwick, U.K., Sept. 13-15). 19-34.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Navigating hierarchically clustered networks through fisheye and full-zoom methods
Recommendations
Graphical fisheye views of graphs
CHI '92: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsA fisheye lens is a very wide angle lens that shows places nearby in detail while also showing remote regions in successively less detail. This paper describes a system for viewing and browsing planar graphs using a software analog of a fisheye lens. We ...
Analyzing the terrorist social networks with visualization tools
ISI'06: Proceedings of the 4th IEEE international conference on Intelligence and Security InformaticsAnalysis of terrorist social networks is essential for discovering knowledge about the structure of terrorist organizations. Such knowledge is important for developing effective combating strategies against terrorism. Visualization of a network with the ...
Transient or permanent fisheye views: a comparative evaluation of source code interfaces
Transient use of information visualization may support specific tasks without permanently changing the user interface. Transient visualizations provide immediate and transient use of information visualization close to and in the context of the user's ...
Comments