Time is an exceptional data dimension due to its importance and unique
influence. This implies that special methods are needed for dealing with
time in data sets in order to take advantage of these specifics. Visual
methods are a key part of this tool set allowing for presentation,
analysis, and exploration of temporal data sets.
Visualisation of Time-Oriented Data provides an overview of the field
of visualisation techniques for time-oriented data, but even more
importantly analyses the specifics and similarities of the investigated
techniques in order to identify clusters for structuring and making the
field manageable. It also analyses the techniqes uniformly along
different sets of attributes making it easy to grasp their main
characteristics and support researchers as well as developers in
selecting appropriate techniques for their demands. The theoretic
foundations of visualization itself are also discussed, the data
dimension time, tasks related to time-oriented data, possible mappings
of time, various examples of early (pre-computer age) representation
techniques, and a conceptual framework for visually analyzing
time-oriented data.