Visualizing graphs in three dimensions

It has been known for some time that larger graphs can be interpreted if laid out in 3D and displayed with stereo and/or motion depth cues to support spatial perception. However, prior studies were carried out using displays that provided a level of detail far short of what the human visual system is capable of resolving. Therefore we undertook a graph comprehension study using a very high resolution stereoscopic display. In our first experiment we examined the effect of stereo, kinetic depth and using 3D tubes versus lines to display the links. The results showed a much greater benefit for 3D viewing than previous studies. For example, with both motion and depth cues, unskilled observers could see paths between nodes in 333 node graphs with less than a 10% error rate. Skilled observers could see up to a 1000 node graph with less than a 10% error rate. This represented an order of magnitude increase over 2D display. In our second experiment we varied both nodes and links to understand...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: TAP
• Authors: Colin Ware, Peter Mitchell
• Keywords: Error Rates, Hardware, Node Graph, Resolution Stereoscopic Display, TAP 2008