Teaching:TUW - UE InfoVis WS 2008/09 - Gruppe 01 - Aufgabe 1 - Visual Encoding
Visual Encoding
Definition
Visual encoding is the set of techniques enabling the representation of data on a screen or on paper. It comprises of the use of shapes, colours, areas and other visual variables that make it possible to associate data variables to graphic variables.[Dürsteler]
Techniques of Visual Encoding
- space
- marks
- connections & enclosures
- retinal properties
- temporal encoding
- viewpoint transformation
space
When you think about an empty paper as the beginning of a visualisation, the space between some possible object is one of the most powerful aspects to give something an important note.
marks
Marks are the visible things that occur in space [Jacko]. You can distinguish between four types of Marks
- Points
- Lines
- Areas
- Volumes
connections & enclosures
Connections and enclosures build the important dependencies between the objects (marks). Connections show a relationship between objects, while enclosures can also indicate related objects.
retinal properties
Retinal properties describe how objects look like. This means for example, crispness, shape, resolution, transperancy, color(value,hue&saturation), grayscale.
temporal encoding
It's the encoding which depends on the temporal changes of marks(mark position and their retinal properties).
viewpoint transformations
Ability to interactively modify and augment Visual Structures, turning static presentations into visualizations. There are three common view transformations :
- Location Probes : Usage of Location in the visual structures to reveal additional info
- Viewpoint control : Moving the viewpoint to create visualisation. (Pan,zoom,clip the viewpoint)
- Distortion : Creating a focus area and context area.
References
- [USGS,2007], Ian Bortis EN: http://