Group Diagrams for simplified representation of scanpaths

Abstract

We instrument Group Diagrams (GDs) to reduce clutter in sets of eye-tracking scanpaths. Group Diagrams consist of trajectory subsets that cover, or represent, the whole set of trajectories with respect to some distance measure and an adjustable distance threshold. The original GDs allow for an application of various distance measures. We implement the GD framework and evaluate it on scanpaths that were collected by a former user study on public transit maps. We find that the Fréchet distance is the most appropriate measure to get meaningful results, yet it is flexible enough to cover outliers. We discuss several implementation-specific challenges and improve the scalability of the algorithm. To evaluate our results, we conducted a qualitative study with a group of eye-tracking experts. Finally, we note that our enhancements are also beneficial within the original problem setting, suggesting that our approach might be applicable to various types of input data. Graphical abstract Eye tracking on a public transit map of Warsaw. Input scanpaths (left), and simplified Group Diagram (right).