Tangible views for information visualization

  • Authors:

  • Martin Spindler;Christian Tominski;Heidrun Schumann;Raimund Dachselt

  • Affiliations:

  • Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Germany;University of Rostock, Germany;University of Rostock, Germany;Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Germany

  • Venue:
  • ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

In information visualization, interaction is commonly carried out by using traditional input devices, and visual feedback is usually given on desktop displays. By contrast, recent advances in interactive surface technology suggest combining interaction and display functionality in a single device for a more direct interaction. With our work, we contribute to the seamless integration of interaction and display devices and introduce new ways of visualizing and directly interacting with information. Rather than restricting the interaction to the display surface alone, we explicitly use the physical three-dimensional space above it for natural interaction with multiple displays. For this purpose, we introduce tangible views as spatially aware lightweight displays that can be interacted with by moving them through the physical space on or above a tabletop display's surface. Tracking the 3D movement of tangible views allows us to control various parameters of a visualization with more degrees of freedom. Tangible views also facilitate making multiple -- previously virtual -- views physically "graspable". In this paper, we introduce a number of interaction and visualization patterns for tangible views that constitute the vocabulary for performing a variety of common visualization tasks. Several implemented case studies demonstrate the usefulness of tangible views for widely used information visualization approaches and suggest the high potential of this novel approach to support interaction with complex visualizations.