Talk:Data Visualization

Data Visualization vs. Information Visualization

What are the differences between DataVis and InfoVis? Yijisoo

Hard question

Wohoo - that's the one million dollar question I was thinking about many times ;-)

I've found no definition in literature that would point out the differences between the two terms. Anyways, I tried to differentiate the two terms by means of needed semantics for meaningful visualizations:

Data Visualization: Visualization techniques for data represent a set of parameters over time graphically whereas no semantics are needed in order to create a meaningful visualization (e.g., Scatterplot). This also includes simple processing on raw data that do not require semantics (derived data; e.g., Histogram, Boxplot, mean, other statistical measures, clustering, etc.). Furthermore, data visualization techniques are often of static nature.

Information Visualization: In contrast to the previous class, visualization techniques for information need semantics, i.e., the meaning of different parameters and their interrelationships or structure are important in order to create a meaningful representation (e.g., InfoBUG glyph).

What do you think about this definitions?

-- Wolfgang Aigner 09:43, 6 June 2006 (CEST)

Quite possible. I like your distinction. BTW, the following graph made me think that DataVis might be simply an older term for InfoVis. People used to use DataVis and switch over to InfoVis. What do you think? Yijisoo---

Google Trend: Information Visualization vs. Data Visualization