|
12th International Conference on Information
Visualisation - IV08 |
|
1.
Information Visualization – A modern perspective Professor Georges Grinstein, Director -
Institute for Visualization and Perception, 2.
Spatial and Object Databases Professor Ray Kresman,
Department of 3.
Introduction to Platform
Independent Information Visualisation Programming Dr Marjan Trutschl,
Dr Urska Cvek, John Cannon and Brent Nycum, Department of Computer Science and Laboratory
for Advanced Biomedical Informatics, 4.
Producing Highly Visualized,
Interactive Multimedia Acrobat PDF Dr Alan Potkin, Center for
Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University, 5.
Network Analysis and
Visualization Using Network Workbench Russell Duhon,
Bruce W. Herr, Prof. Katy Börner, and Weixia Huang Cyberinfrastructure for |
 |
A Full-day Course: Tuesday 8th
July 2008, Time: 10:30 -17:30
Information Visualization – A
modern perspective
Professor Georges Grinstein,
Director - Institute for Visualization and Perception,
Abstract
Brief history (from hieroglyphics to maps to
exploratory data analysis to scientific visualization to information
visualization to visual analytics) Classic and modern techniques (strengths and
weaknesses) Presentation, confirmatory and exploratory visualizations
Perception and perceptual guidelines with the 5 most important tips
Visualization guidelines or "how to lie with visualization" with the
5 methods that always work Example systems Example applications Research
questions
Lots of slides, videos and text
comments from outside individuals and experts.
Level of Tutorial: Introductory
level
Biography
Georges Grinstein is Professor of Computer Science at the
He has over 30 years in academia
with extensive private consulting, over 100 research grants, products in use
nationally and internationally, several patents, numerous publications in
journals and conferences, and has been the organizer or chair of national and
international conferences and workshops in Computer Graphics, in Visualization,
and in Data Mining (co-chair IEEE Visualization Conferences, program committee
AAAI conferences in Knowledge Discovery and Databases, co-chair IVBI Symposia,
co-chair IEEE Workshops on the Integration of Databases and Visualization,
co-chair IEEE and AAAI Workshops on the Integration of Data Mining and
Visualization, co-chair ACM workshop on the Psychological and Cognitive Issues
in the Visualization of Data, and co-chair SPIE Visual Data and Exploration and
Analysis Conferences).
He is on the editorial boards of several journals in
Computer Graphics and Data Mining, has been a member of ANSI and ISO, a NATO
Expert, and a technology consultant for various government agencies.
A Half-day Course: Tuesday 8th
July 2008, Time: 14:00 -17:30
Spatial and Object
Databases
Professor Ray Kresman, Department
of
Abstract
With the advent of mobile and
wireless-enabled devices, a number of graphical and locationenabled
applications, which have moved well beyond the realm of traditional
geographical information systems, are emerging. For example, distance between
two points in a city involves more than the location coordinates, the
underlying themes such as street networks are required. An understanding of
spatial and object database concepts is critical to the design of applications
that capture the spatial dimension of information. However, these relatively
new ideas are less well understood by students; few computer science programs
cover them in their database, computational geometry, and graphics course
offerings. This tutorial introduces the participants (educators, students,
software developers) to the use of object-oriented and spatial database
primitives in application design.
We describe how to store and
manipulate graphical objects such as points, line segments, and more complex
objects such as curves and polygons and maps. We show how features can be
accessed interactively and through programming languages (Java). Where
applicable, we illustrate these concepts using public domain database software
(MySQL) and commercial software (Oracle). Finally, we
explain how web-enabled and other applications can take advantage of mapping
features to enhance the visual appeal of the application.
Objectives
·
Compare
and contrast GIS and spatial databases.
·
Draw
parallel between object oriented programming and object databases.
·
Create
and use database objects with data members and member functions.
·
Understand
use of Geometry data type.
·
Construct
and respond to spatial queries.
·
Learn
how to query metadata
·
Understand
XML interface to maps and how to render maps.
·
Access
database objects and geometry from programs.
Intended audience:
IV08 and Vis08 conference attendees, especially educators, upper level computer
science students, and software developers.
Background of the Audience: Exposure
to relational DBMS. Basic proficiency in objectoriented
concepts in Java and/or C++.
Level of Tutorial: Introductory level
Tutorial Outline
·
Introduction
(5 minutes)
·
Nonspatial
and spatial data (15 minutes)
- Geographic Information Systems
- Spatial DBMS
- Modeling approaches
·
Object
databases (30 minutes)
- Type and object extension
- Methods
- Object as table attributes
- Examples and code walk-through
·
Spatial
Types (30 minutes)
- Basic data types
- Complex geometries
- Concave and convex representation
- Examples
·
Session
Break (10 minutes)
·
Spatial
Query (40 minutes)
- Spatial operators
- Geometry processing functions
- Manipulating geometry
- Examples and code walk-through
·
Maps
(30 minutes)
- Map components
- Constructing themes
- Style configuration
- XML interface
- Examples
·
Concluding
Remarks
Ray Kresman
is a Professor of Computer Science at
conferences.
Dr. Kresman's work on distributed systems was
supported by the National Science Foundation. He has published in the area of
distributed systems, security, and complexity of algorithms.
A Full-day
Course: Tuesday 8th July 2008, Time: 10:30 -17:30
Introduction to Platform Independent Information
Visualisation Programming
Marjan Trutschl, Urska Cvek, John Cannon and Brent Nycum
Abstract:
This full day course preceding
IV08 is designed to provide an introduction to platform independent information
visualization programming using Qt, OpenGL, and C++. In this tutorial, we are
going to cover the basics of visualization programming programming
in C++ and OpenGL and designing interfaces using Qt. Practical examples in
several application areas will be demonstrated.
Organization:
We will be presenting material in
lectures complemented with numerous examples. The following is the list of
topics:
Getting Started
Installing / Compiling /
Configuring
Platforms: Linux, Mac OS
X, Visual Studio / Windows
Simple Qt Program
QMake
Project File
Creating Dialogs
Creating Main Windows
Implementing Application
Functionality
Creating Custom Widgets
Layout Management
Event processing
2D/3D Graphics
QPainter
QGLWidget
(OpenGL)
Drawing Primitives
Transformations / Viewing
Lighting
Picking (Selection mode)
Stereo Viewing
Programming and Hardware Issues
Item View Classes
Other Qt Library Features
I/O
Online help
Custom Widgets Revisited
Intended Audience:
The tutorial is geared towards
researchers, managers and practitioners interested in learning how to program
information visualization tools. While no Qt and OpenGL experience is assumed,
the participants are expected to be familiar with C++ or some other
object-oriented programming language.
Level of
tutorial:
Introductory
Tutorial text:
C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4, 2nd
Edition Jasmin Blanchette
and Mark Summerfield
Prentice Hall, Published 2008, 2nd
edition, ISBN 0132354160
Marjan Trutschl, Sc.D.
Department of Computer Science and
Laboratory for Advanced Biomedical Informatics,
Department of Bioinformatics and
Computational Biology,
Biomedical Informatics Core,
Center for Molecular and Tumor Virology,
Urska Cvek, Sc.D.,
MBA
Department of Computer Science and
Laboratory for Advanced Biomedical Informatics,
Department of Bioinformatics and
Computational Biology,
Biomedical Informatics Core,
Center for Molecular and Tumor Virology,
John Cannon, B.S.
Department of Computer Science and
Laboratory for Advanced Biomedical Informatics,
Brent Nycum,
B.S.
Department of Computer Science and
Laboratory for Advanced Biomedical Informatics,
A Full-day
Course: Tuesday 8th July 2008, Time: 10:30 -17:30
Producing Highly Visualized, Interactive
Multimedia in Acrobat PDF
Dr Alan Potkin, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois
University,
Team Leader, Digital Conservation Facility
Abstract
“Content providers”, i.e.,
non-specialists in media production, across the disciplines touching upon
cultural heritage or ecological conservation have until now been surprisingly
slow to incorporate interactive visualization into their reporting, capacity
building, and consultancy deliverables. Yet apart from the relative handful of
lavishly funded projects, there are seldom budget lines in routine
environmental impact assessment or cultural asset interpretation and management
initiatives to engage dedicated videographers, image
editors, artists, animators and virtual reality compilers.
Part of the problem has been the
characteristically high cost and the steep learning curve of much of the
software for creating ambitious interactive
media.
An exception to these both is extraordinary versatility of Adobe Acrobat: the
full authoring package, not just the free Reader, which latter
nearly
everybody has and uses these days, but very seldom encountering, at least
outside the printing trade, more interesting and technically sophisticated PDFs beyond cross-platform-friendly text files; sometimes
extensively illustrated but most often not.
Barely so touted even by Adobe
itself, Acrobat is in fact easily capable of authoring highly complex, elegant
and graphics-rich interactive productions suitable for distributing virtually,
i.e., on the Web; or on physical digital media such as CD- or DVD-ROMs, of
which the replication cost is already so low as to often be beneath practical
economies of scale. And thus, an inexpensive publication format quite
independent of bandwidth or availability of Internet services, which remain a
key limitation throughout the developing countries.
Furthermore, it is quite realistic
for content providers to assemble effective interactive materials in PDF
following only one day of focused, hands-on
training.
Obviously, the more experienced beforehand the author is with visualization,
image/video-editing and page layout/design applications (e.g., Photoshop,
Quark, Premiere), the more refined the near-term
product.
Brief description of tutorial’s organisation and time
allocation
The technical focus will be on the
various approaches —from the aesthetic, the editorial, and the
“user-friendliness” perspectives— and on the specific utilities within the full
Adobe Acrobat application for building interactivity into a PDF. These include
the “link” (both visible and invisible), the “button” (plus “radio button” and
“textfield”), and the “movie” (plus “sound”) toolbox
items. There are many ways to skin a cat when authoring an interactive PDF and
we’ll demonstrate and elaborate the ones we use most frequently and
powerfully.
[c. 2.5 hours]
Also, while Acrobat in itself is
neither intended to nor capable of creating page layouts, images, textual and
media content —these all must originate
Photoshop, or InDesign—
once a complex PDF has been authored, it is frequently much easier to make
minor editorial or design changes inside the
PDF file, rather than
to go back to the source files and applications and then laboriously
reconstruct the PDF from scratch. The
Acrobat toolbox provides “touch-up text” and “touchup object” facilities for so
doing. Alternatively, greater levels of editorial modification can be most
efficiently accomplished with a mix of PDF and source material editing, and
this process is even semiautomated in the Acrobat
“touchup object” command’s interface with the Adobe Photoshop application. [c. 1.5 hours]
We would also go through the
basics of stitching up and retouching panoramas manually in Photoshop, the use,
alternatively, of more automated
stitching
software, and the advantages and disadvantages of each such approach, which
comprise the main part of producing virtual reality (VR) or
immersive
photography movies. Rarely, in site visualization, have we felt that a
fully-cylindrical, i.e. 360º, VR is required and stitched panos
of only three or four frames are often very effective, and when enlarged, more
than adequately interactive. [c. 1 hour]
Of course we would also show how the
essential “Print as PDF” command automates the conversion of MS Word files,
scans and other graphics, and
even
PowerPoint slides directly into PDFs ready for the
insertion of interactivity. [c. 0.5 hours]
Finally we will go through several
of our completed CD- and DVD-ROM ebooks authored
entirely in PDF (with certain VR and video content in
QuickTime format as well), and
then “back-engineer” them in detail to show how the source material was
originally composed and converted to PDF, and then how the Acrobat toolbox was
applied, and what had dictated the selection and placement of each case of an
interactivity link and the target material so called up. [c.
1 hour]
Level of the Tutorial
This class is intended not for media
specialists, but for content providers — especially those in the fields of
cultural heritage and landscape conservation—interested in a hands-on approach
to authoring basic interactive visualization products today, immediately.
Beyond a general basic competence in personal computers running under either
Windows or Mac, we assume no previous experience with the full Adobe Acrobat
application, although the greater the level of familiarity with the usual
applications for producing source material, the more immediately useful this
course should prove.
Dr Alan Potkin, After
receiving his Ph. D. in environmental planning from U. California, Berkeley in
1989, Alan Potkin founded the Digital Conservation Facilty Laos, introducing interactive visualization to
landscape characterization, impact assessment, corporate memory, capacity
building and post-facto review of ecological and cultural preservation
initiatives throughout monsoonal
Interactive Taxonomic Atlas of
Mekong Fishes; Illustrating the Kingdom of Arakan in
the XVIIth Century: an Arakanese perspective from the
Dutch sources; Waterfalls Hydropower Development: aesthetic considerations in
project evaluation; The emerging visualization toolbox for realizing river
basins, waterways, and living aquatic resources in mainland Southeast Asia; and
most recently, Computer projection in lost murals replication. Dr. Potkin has most recently delivered a day-long tutorial on
very much this same model and subject in
faculty
and graduate students at the Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific
(CHCAP),
A half-day
Course: Tuesday 8th July 2008, Time: 10:30 -13:30
Network
Analysis and Visualization Using Network Workbench
Russell Duhon, Bruce
W. Herr, Katy Börner, and Weixia
Huang
Cyberinfrastructure for
Abstract
Networks are all around us! This
includes social networks, internet networks, biological networks, paper
citation networks, and more. As these networks become more important in our daily
lives the ability to understand their behavior will be more and more necessary.
The Network Workbench (http://nwb.slis.indiana.edu)
was designed to aid in exploring and understanding these networks. In this
tutorial we will introduce the Network Workbench and demonstrate how to use it
to analyze and visualize your own networks.
Organisation
1. A brief introduction to
networks and network science
2. An introduction to the
Network Workbench (NWB) project.
3. Hands on demonstrations
of NWB
4. Extending NWB
5. Large-scale network
visualization
Agenda
This tutorial will be a four hour, mostly
hands-on, introduction to using and extending the Network Workbench for
analysis and visualization of network data.
Level of Tutorial:
Introductory level
Biography
Russell Duhon designs, programs, parses, researches, and
visualizes at Dr. Katy Borner's Cyberinfrastructure
for
Bruce W. Herr II is a software developer at the Cyberinfrastructure for
Katy Börner
is the Victor H. Yngve
Associate Professor of Information Science at the School of Library and
Information Science, Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Informatics,
Core Faculty of Cognitive Science, Research Affiliate of the Biocomplexity Institute, Fellow of the Center for Research
on Learning and Technology, Member of the Advanced Visualization Laboratory,
and Founding Director of the Cyberinfrastructure for
Network Science Center at Indiana University. She is a curator of the Places
& Spaces: Mapping Science exhibit, http://scimaps.org/.
Her research focuses on the development of data analysis and visualization
techniques for information access, understanding, and management. She is
particularly interested in the study of the structure and evolution of
scientific disciplines; the analysis and visualization of online activity; and
the development of cyberinfrastructures for large
scale scientific collaboration and computation.
Weixia Huang is a System
Architect at the Cyberinfrastructure for
Cyberinfrastructure
for