GraSp: Combining Spatially‐aware Mobile Devices and a Display Wall for Graph Visualization and Interaction

Abstract

Going beyond established desktop interfaces, researchers have begun re‐thinking visualization approaches to make use of alternative display environments and more natural interaction modalities. In this paper, we investigate how spatially‐aware mobile displays and a large display wall can be coupled to support graph visualization and interaction. For that purpose, we distribute typical visualization views of classic node‐link and matrix representations between displays. The focus of our work lies in novel interaction techniques that enable users to work with personal mobile devices in combination with the wall. We devised and implemented a comprehensive interaction repertoire that supports basic and advanced graph exploration and manipulation tasks, including selection, details‐on‐demand, focus transitions, interactive lenses, and data editing. A qualitative study has been conducted to identify strengths and weaknesses of our techniques. Feedback showed that combining mobile devices and a wall‐sized display is useful for diverse graph‐related tasks. We also gained valuable insights regarding the distribution of visualization views and interactive tools among the combined displays.

Cross-Device Taxonomy

“…Starting in the year 2000, we see a growing interest in applying cross-device interaction to data exploration. Information visualisation leveraging mobile devices including tablets and smartphones has called for new interaction vocabulary [18,138,171,322]. In particular, Horak et al [138] described interaction concepts for a smartwatch-display configuration in a crime analysis scenario using a real city criminal dataset.…”

Interaction for Immersive Analytics

“…This combination can help to address some of the challenges of large display immersive analytics systems: The use of personal devices and their own interaction capabilities provides an additional, independent view for the user and also allows her to interact from a greater distance. For example, with a tablet used as a handheld lens into the data, a user could explore a visualization even if another user stands directly in front of the main display, blocking the view [88]. A user could also utilize the mobility of the tablet to reduce the context switching cost with multiple screens [36].…”

Dynamic Network Plaid

“…They find that "rather than being small portals in which the user must fit their work, they are human-scale environments that are defined more by the abilities and limitations of the user than by the technology" [2]. Kister et al [41] present a technique for the visualization of static graphs on wall displays with mobile devices to investigate how the two can be used in interaction simultaneously.…”