Guided Sketching for Visual Search and Exploration in Large Scatter Plot Spaces

Recently, there has been an interest in methods for filtering large scatter plot spaces for interesting patterns. However, user interaction remains crucial in starting an explorative analysis in a large scatter plot space. We introduce an approach for explorative search and navigation in large sets of scatter plot diagrams. By means of a sketch-based query interface, users can start the exploration process by providing a visual example of the pattern they are interested in. A shadow-drawing approach provides suggestions for possibly relevant patterns while query drawing takes place, supporting the visual search process. We apply the approach on a large real-world data set, demonstrating the principal functionality and usefulness of our technique.