Data Visualization Concepts

Questions and Answers

What is a target in data visualization?

A specific visual element

Specific trends or outliers you are looking for (correct)

A measurement technique

A data visualization type

What is an action in data visualization?

How you want to interact with the visualization and what you want to get out of it.

What does the 'discover' action involve?

Using visualization to find information you didn't have before.

What is an example of the 'discover' action?

Any visualization where you look at data you haven't seen or don't understand. Signup and view all the answers

What is the 'present' action?

Using a visualization to communicate to other people. Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of the 'present' action?

Search results from Amazon or TED Talk visuals. Signup and view all the answers

What does the 'enjoy' action refer to?

Visualizations created just for fun. Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of the 'enjoy' action?

Visualizations that demonstrate how different people talk. Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the 'annotate' action?

To make marks or record notes on a visualization. Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of the 'annotate' action?

Saving your favorite restaurants on Yelp. Signup and view all the answers

What does the 'record' action allow you to do?

Save the current visualization. Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of the 'record' action?

Taking a screenshot. Signup and view all the answers

What is the 'derive' action?

Generate new information from existing information. Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of the 'derive' action?

Creating a line of best fit from a scatterplot. Signup and view all the answers

What defines a known target?

Knowing what you are searching for. Signup and view all the answers

What is an unknown target?

Not sure what you are searching for. Signup and view all the answers

Provide an example of a known target.

Google Maps - you have a known location name. Signup and view all the answers

Provide an example of an unknown target.

Looking for a restaurant to eat at. Signup and view all the answers

What is a known location?

I know where it is. Signup and view all the answers

What is an unknown location?

I don't know where it is. Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of a known location?

Having an address. Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of an unknown location?

Wanting the location of the nearest Safeway. Signup and view all the answers

What does the 'identify' action entail?

Looking at a single piece of data. Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of the 'identify' action?

The bolded line from the MLB program. Signup and view all the answers

What does the 'compare' action involve?

Looking at a small number of items. Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of the 'compare' action?

Comparing items on shopping websites. Signup and view all the answers

What does the 'summarize' action refer to?

Looking at a huge group of things to see patterns and trends. Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of the 'summarize' action?

Visualizations that assess marriage penalties or bonuses. Signup and view all the answers

What do we mean by 'trends' in data visualization?

Identifying the general shape of the data over time. Signup and view all the answers

What are 'outliers' in data visualization?

Values that don't fit the trend and stand out. Signup and view all the answers

What are 'features' in data visualization?

Smaller scaled patterns than the overall trend. Signup and view all the answers

What targets can we look at when we have a single attribute?

Distribution - how many things have a value in a certain range. Signup and view all the answers

What targets can we examine with multiple attributes?

Influence of some attributes on others, and their correlations. Signup and view all the answers

What is 'arrange' in design choice?

Spatial representation for non-spatial data. Signup and view all the answers

What is a scatterplot?

A 2D visualization with data points correlating to horizontal and vertical positions. Signup and view all the answers

What types of data are scatterplots well suited for?

Good at showing correlations and outliers. Signup and view all the answers

What types of data are scatterplots poorly suited for?

Categorical data or data with one attribute. Signup and view all the answers

How many different attributes can you convey with a scatterplot?

3 or 4 using color, shape/size, and position. Signup and view all the answers

What is list alignment?

Horizontal or vertical ordering of the elements to show. Signup and view all the answers

What is a bar chart?

It uses lines with certain spatial positions on two axes - one categorical and one quantitative. Signup and view all the answers

What types of data are bar charts well suited for?

Drawing comparisons and noticing trends. Signup and view all the answers

What types of data are bar charts poorly suited for?

Spatial data and data with more than one quantitative attribute. Signup and view all the answers

What is a stacked bar chart?

A bar chart broken into several components. Signup and view all the answers

What types of data are stacked bar charts well suited for?

Data that adds up to a whole, like car sales data. Signup and view all the answers

What types of data are stacked bar charts poorly suited for?

When data isn't reasonably distributed, parts may lack meaning. Signup and view all the answers

What is a stream graph?

A graph showing values over time with line height. Signup and view all the answers

What types of data are stream graphs well suited for?

Continuous data over time. Signup and view all the answers

What types of data are stream graphs poorly suited for?

Data with too many points. Signup and view all the answers

What are dot charts?

Charts that use dots instead of bars. Signup and view all the answers

What are line charts?

A dot chart where dots are connected. Signup and view all the answers

When should you choose a dot chart over a line chart?

For categorical data where in-between values don't make sense. Signup and view all the answers

When should you choose a line chart over a dot chart?

When showing in-between values, like temperature. Signup and view all the answers

What is important regarding line chart aspect ratio?

Most lines should be at a 45-degree angle. Signup and view all the answers

What is a matrix alignment?

A grid with one key on each axis. Signup and view all the answers

What is a heatmap?

Matrix alignment where each cell is given a color based on similarity. Signup and view all the answers

What types of data are heatmaps well suited for?

Group comparisons between two sets. Signup and view all the answers

What is a scatterplot matrix?

A matrix alignment with scatterplots in each cell. Signup and view all the answers

What types of data are scatterplot matrices well suited for?

When many comparisons are necessary, with several scalar attributes. Signup and view all the answers

What is a rectilinear layout?

An axis with right angles, intersecting at one point. Signup and view all the answers

What is a parallel layout?

A layout where lines are parallel to represent multi-dimensional space. Signup and view all the answers

What is a parallel coordinates plot?

Each line represents a point in a multi-dimensional space. Signup and view all the answers

What are some advantages of a parallel coordinates plot?

Allows seeing more than 3 dimensions and easy correlation visualization. Signup and view all the answers

What are some disadvantages of a parallel coordinates plot?

Hard to read and challenging to derive conclusive data. Signup and view all the answers

What is a radial layout?

A circular layout similar to a pie chart. Signup and view all the answers

What is a pie chart?

A chart that uses wedges to display data breakdowns. Signup and view all the answers

How do we often choose the position of graphical elements in spatial data?

Based on their actual spatial relationships. Signup and view all the answers

What is a choropleth map?

A map divided by regions assigned colors based on data. Signup and view all the answers

What are choropleth maps well suited for?

General overviews and trends with a single attribute. Signup and view all the answers

What are choropleth maps poorly suited for?

Detailed information. Signup and view all the answers

What are three different ways of depicting a single scalar field?

Slicing, direct volume rendering, isocontours. Signup and view all the answers

What is slicing in 3D scalar fields?

Making a 2D cut-out image of the field. Signup and view all the answers

What is direct volume rendering?

Visualizing the 3D scalar field in a fuzzy view. Signup and view all the answers

What are isocontours?

Lines representing equal values in a scalar field, like elevation. Signup and view all the answers

What factors should you consider when choosing rendering techniques?

Information loss, user understanding, and preferences. Signup and view all the answers

What is a transfer function in direct volume rendering?

Maps spatial data changes to opacity and color. Signup and view all the answers

What are steady vector fields?

Fields that do not change over time. Signup and view all the answers

What are unsteady vector fields?

Fields that change over time. Signup and view all the answers

What are critical points?

Points in a vector field where the flow is interesting or zero. Signup and view all the answers

What is a streamline in a steady vector field?

The trajectory that a particle would trace. Signup and view all the answers

What are pie charts well suited for?

Displaying percentage distributions of data. Signup and view all the answers

What are pie charts poorly suited for?

Tracking trends over time. Signup and view all the answers

What is a normalized stacked bar chart?

A chart that shows percentages rather than counts. Signup and view all the answers

What are normalized stacked bar charts well suited for?

Seeing the differences between the categories. Signup and view all the answers

What are normalized stacked bar charts poorly suited for?

They tend to be harder to read and less detailed. Signup and view all the answers

What is a rule of thumb?

A general guideline typically followed. Signup and view all the answers

Why should you follow rules of thumb?

Because smart people developed them. Signup and view all the answers

What is unjustified 3D?

Using 3D when 2D is more effective. Signup and view all the answers

What is unjustified 2D?

Using 2D when 1D is more effective. Signup and view all the answers

What is occlusion?

When layered elements hide information. Signup and view all the answers

What are depth cues?

Indicators that suggest how close or far something is. Signup and view all the answers

What is perspective distortion?

When distant objects appear closer than they are. Signup and view all the answers

How can you decide whether to use 2D or 3D?

Use 3D when representing spatial datasets effectively. Signup and view all the answers

What does it mean when we say 'eyes beat memory'?

Don't force users to remember data, instead display data side by side. Signup and view all the answers

What is working memory?

Short-term memory. Signup and view all the answers

What is the conflict between resolution and immersion?

Difficulty in achieving both simultaneously. Signup and view all the answers

Between resolution and immersion, which should we generally prefer?

Resolution, to show more detail. Signup and view all the answers

What is an overview?

A summary. Signup and view all the answers

What does zoom and filter do?

Look closely at the overview. Signup and view all the answers

What is details on demand?

Providing additional detail as needed. Signup and view all the answers

What is latency in data visualization?

How long the system takes to respond to user actions. Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Data Visualization Concepts

Target refers to specific trends or outliers one is examining within the data.
Action encompasses how a user wishes to interact with the visualization and what information they aim to extract.
Discover Action involves utilizing a visualization to uncover new information previously unrecognized.
Present Action signifies using visualizations to communicate insights to others, e.g., search results or TED talk visuals.
Enjoy Action pertains to visualizations designed for entertainment or casual exploration.
Annotate Action is the process of making notes or marks on a visualization to highlight important elements.
Record Action allows users to save the current state of a visualization, often through screenshots.
Derive Action means generating new insights or information from existing data.

Data Targets

Known Target represents scenarios where the user has a defined search goal, such as a specific location.
Unknown Target highlights uncertainty in what the user seeks, like looking for a restaurant without a name.
Trends Target focuses on recognizing overall data movement over time, e.g., stock increases or seasonal changes.
Outliers Target identifies values that do not conform to established trends and stand apart from the data.
Features Target addresses smaller patterns within larger trends, such as local energy usage during specific events.

Data Relationships and Representation

Comparison Action involves evaluating a limited number of items, such as product comparisons on shopping sites.
Summarize Action means analyzing large data sets to identify broad patterns and trends.
Distribution Analysis assesses how many items fall within specific value ranges, considering minimum and maximum values.

Visualization Types and Suitability

Scatterplots are effective for showing correlations and outliers but poorly suited for categorical data.
Bar Charts excel at making comparisons but lose spatial context, making them unsuitable for representation of spatial data.
Stacked Bar Charts represent parts of a whole but can be ineffective if data segments are poorly distributed.
Stream Graphs visualize continuous data over time; however, excessive data points can complicate readability.
Heatmaps demonstrate the relationship between two groupings effectively with color coding.
Scatterplot Matrices facilitate comparisons across multiple attributes, suitable for multivariate datasets.

Layout Principles

Rectilinear Layout employs right-angle intersections common in most graphs.
Parallel Coordinates Plot displays high-dimensional data but can be challenging to interpret due to complexity.
Radial Layouts organize data in circular arrangements, resembling pie charts for comparative purposes.

Choosing Visualization Techniques

Direct Volume Rendering captures the complexity of 3D scalar fields for medical imaging.
Isocontours present 2D scalar fields effectively, displaying contours like those on a topographic map.

Visualization Challenges

Occlusion occurs when stacked elements obscure data, complicating the readability of the visualization.
Perspective Distortion describes how distant objects may appear misleading due to visual perspective cues.
Latency measures response time delays in interactive systems, impacting user experience.

General Guidelines

Rule of Thumb serves as fundamental principles established by past experience for creating effective visualizations.
Resolution vs. Immersion presents a dilemma in visualization, with resolution usually preferred for clarity.
Overview, Zoom, and Filter techniques allow users to navigate complex data more intuitively.
Details on Demand gives users access to more granular information as needed, enhancing interaction and understanding.

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Description

Explore the key concepts of data visualization, including various actions users can take and types of targets they may focus on. Understand how these elements contribute to effective data analysis and communication. This quiz will enhance your knowledge about how to interact with visual data effectively.