Customizable Visualizations with Formula-Linked Building Blocks

Mohammad Amin Kuhail; Søren Lauesen

Customizable Visualizations with Formula-Linked Building Blocks

Mohammad Amin Kuhail
, Søren Lauesen

Research output: Contribution to conference - NOT published in proceeding or journal › Poster › Research › peer-review

Abstract

One approach to visualization construction is to use complex blocks (widgets) that are tailored for specific visualizations, and customize the visualizations by setting the properties of the widgets. This approach allows fast and easy visualization construction but falls short if the user wants different appearance or
behavior than what the widgets support. Another approach is to combine primitive graphical elements using traditional programming or visualization toolkits. Traditional programming allows high customizability, but it is time consuming and hard to develop advanced visualizations. Visualization toolkits
allow easier visualization creation in some cases, but customization and interaction are tedious. As an alternative, we developed uVis visualization tool that uses spreadsheet-like formulas to connect building blocks. uVis formulas can refer to building blocks and database tables. We created several advanced visualizations, and compared our approach against others. Evaluation shows that our approach improved customizability.

Original language	English
Publication date	2012
Publication status	Published - 2012
Event	International Conference on Information Visualization Theory and Applications - Rome, Italy Duration: 24 Feb 2012 → 26 Feb 2012 http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/conf/grapp/grapp2012.html

Conference

Conference	International Conference on Information Visualization Theory and Applications
Country/Territory	Italy
City	Rome
Period	24/02/2012 → 26/02/2012
Internet address	http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/conf/grapp/grapp2012.html

Keywords

Visualization Construction
Customizable Widgets
Primitive Graphical Elements
Spreadsheet-like Formulas
Visualization Toolkits

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title = "Customizable Visualizations with Formula-Linked Building Blocks",

abstract = "One approach to visualization construction is to use complex blocks (widgets) that are tailored for specific visualizations, and customize the visualizations by setting the properties of the widgets. This approach allows fast and easy visualization construction but falls short if the user wants different appearance or behavior than what the widgets support. Another approach is to combine primitive graphical elements using traditional programming or visualization toolkits. Traditional programming allows high customizability, but it is time consuming and hard to develop advanced visualizations. Visualization toolkits allow easier visualization creation in some cases, but customization and interaction are tedious. As an alternative, we developed uVis visualization tool that uses spreadsheet-like formulas to connect building blocks. uVis formulas can refer to building blocks and database tables. We created several advanced visualizations, and compared our approach against others. Evaluation shows that our approach improved customizability.",

keywords = "Visualization Construction, Customizable Widgets, Primitive Graphical Elements, Spreadsheet-like Formulas, Visualization Toolkits, Visualization Construction, Customizable Widgets, Primitive Graphical Elements, Spreadsheet-like Formulas, Visualization Toolkits",

author = "Kuhail, \{Mohammad Amin\} and S{\o}ren Lauesen",

note = "Verificeret i IVAPPs ; International Conference on Information Visualization Theory and Applications, IVAPP 2012 ; Conference date: 24-02-2012 Through 26-02-2012",

year = "2012",

language = "English",

url = "http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/\textasciitilde{}ley/db/conf/grapp/grapp2012.html",

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TY - CONF

T1 - Customizable Visualizations with Formula-Linked Building Blocks

AU - Kuhail, Mohammad Amin

AU - Lauesen, Søren

N1 - Verificeret i IVAPPs

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - One approach to visualization construction is to use complex blocks (widgets) that are tailored for specific visualizations, and customize the visualizations by setting the properties of the widgets. This approach allows fast and easy visualization construction but falls short if the user wants different appearance or behavior than what the widgets support. Another approach is to combine primitive graphical elements using traditional programming or visualization toolkits. Traditional programming allows high customizability, but it is time consuming and hard to develop advanced visualizations. Visualization toolkits allow easier visualization creation in some cases, but customization and interaction are tedious. As an alternative, we developed uVis visualization tool that uses spreadsheet-like formulas to connect building blocks. uVis formulas can refer to building blocks and database tables. We created several advanced visualizations, and compared our approach against others. Evaluation shows that our approach improved customizability.

AB - One approach to visualization construction is to use complex blocks (widgets) that are tailored for specific visualizations, and customize the visualizations by setting the properties of the widgets. This approach allows fast and easy visualization construction but falls short if the user wants different appearance or behavior than what the widgets support. Another approach is to combine primitive graphical elements using traditional programming or visualization toolkits. Traditional programming allows high customizability, but it is time consuming and hard to develop advanced visualizations. Visualization toolkits allow easier visualization creation in some cases, but customization and interaction are tedious. As an alternative, we developed uVis visualization tool that uses spreadsheet-like formulas to connect building blocks. uVis formulas can refer to building blocks and database tables. We created several advanced visualizations, and compared our approach against others. Evaluation shows that our approach improved customizability.

KW - Visualization Construction

KW - Customizable Widgets

KW - Primitive Graphical Elements

KW - Spreadsheet-like Formulas

KW - Visualization Toolkits

KW - Visualization Construction

KW - Customizable Widgets

KW - Primitive Graphical Elements

KW - Spreadsheet-like Formulas

KW - Visualization Toolkits

M3 - Poster

T2 - International Conference on Information Visualization Theory and Applications

Y2 - 24 February 2012 through 26 February 2012

ER -

Customizable Visualizations with Formula-Linked Building Blocks

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

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