Interactive Grid Based Binning for Information Visualization

Clutter within information visualization (infovis) systems is an area of continuing concern and is receiving increasing research interest. Solutions to the problem vary in their approach, ranging from novel visualizations designed specifically to cope with high data density, through to statistical methodologies such as binning. This paper presents a flexible method that allows interactive placement of a grid based binning system that aims to enhance traditional information visualization techniques. User evaluations employing two specific visualization methods are described using a prototype grid based binning system. The method is shown to be a quick and easy way to visually segment a data domain, while the two visualization techniques presented are shown to provide effective data overview. Due to the abstracted nature of the binning grid, its applicability goes beyond the examples provided in this paper, therefore it could be considered as a generic data reduction and/or overview technique within many systems.