Data visualization is currently a very active and vital area of
research, teaching and development. The term unites the established
field of scientific visualization and the more recent field of
information visualization. The success of data visualization is due to
the soundness of the basic idea behind it: the use of computer-generated
images to gain insight and knowledge from data and its inherent patterns
and relationships. A second premise is the utilization of the broad
bandwidth of the human sensory system in steering and interpreting
complex processes, and simulations involving data sets from diverse
scientific disciplines and large collections of abstract data from many
sources.
These concepts are extremely important and have a profound and
widespread impact on the methodology of computational science and
engineering, as well as on management and administration. The interplay
between various application areas and their specific problem solving
visualization techniques is emphasized in this book. Reflecting the
heterogeneous structure of Data Visualization, emphasis was placed on
these topics:
-Visualization Algorithms and Techniques;
-Volume Visualization;
-Information Visualization;
-Multiresolution Techniques;
-Interactive Data Exploration.
Data Visualization: The State of the Art presents the state of the
art in scientific and information visualization techniques by experts in
this field. It can serve as an overview for the inquiring scientist, and
as a basic foundation for developers. This edited volume contains
chapters dedicated to surveys of specific topics, and a great deal of
original work not previously published illustrated by examples from a
wealth of applications. The book will also provide basic material for
teaching the state of the art techniques in data visualization.
Data Visualization: The State of the Art is designed to meet the
needs of practitioners and researchers in scientific and information
visualization. This book is also suitable as a secondary text for
graduate level students in computer science and engineering.
