Visualization of Data Sets

Data Sets
Data sets are classified:
Spatial distribution
Data type

2D data sets distributed over a

surface
3D data sets distributed over the
interior of a cube, a sphere, or some
other region of space
Data types include: scalars, vectors,
tensors and multivariate data

Scalar vs Vector
A scalar quantity is a one dimensional
measurement of a quantity, like
temperature, or weight.
A vector has more than one number
associated with it.
A simple example is velocity. It has a
magnitude, called speed, as well as a
direction, like North or Southwest or 10
degrees west of North.
A scalar is just a number, and a vector is a
number with a direction involved.

Visual Representation for

Scalar
Scalar quantity single value
SDS contain values that may be
distributed in time, as well as over
spatial positions
Eg of physical scalar quantities energy, density, mass, temperature,
pressure, charge, resistance,
reflectivity, frequency, etc
Common visualizing method graphs
or charts

 Pseudo-color methods distinguish

different values in a scalar data sets
Color-coding techniques combined
with graph and chart methods
Contour plots to display isolines
(lines of constant scalar value) for a
data set distributed over a surface.
It display the 3-dimensional
relationship in two dimensions, with xand y-factors (predictors) plotted on
the x- and y-scales and response
values represented by contours.

The darker regions indicate higher quality.

The contour levels reveal a peak centered in
the vicinity of 35 minutes (Time) and
425o(Temp). Quality scores in this peak
region are greater than 8.

 Volume rendering somewhat like

an X-ray picture, a method for
visualizing a three-dimensional data
set.

Visual Representation for

Vector
A vector quantity V in threedimensional space has three scalar
values (Vx,Vy,Vz), one for each
coordinate direction, and a twodimensional vector has two
components (Vx,Vy).
Vector representation magnitude |V|
and its direction u.
Vector quantities may be functions of
position, time and other parameters.

 One way plot each data point as a

small arrow that shows the
magnitude and direction of the vector
Represent vector values by plotting
field lines or streamlines
Field lines are commonly used for
electric, magnetic, and gravitational
fields
Streamlines can be displayed as wide
arrows, particularly when a whirlpool,
or vortex, effect is present.

Visual Representation for

Tensor
A tensor quantity in three-dimensional
space has nine components and can
be represented with a 3 by 3 matrix.
Usually second-order tensor, higherorder tensors do occur.
Second-order tensors are stress and
strain in a material subjected to
external forces, conductivity (or
resistivity) of an electrical conductor.

 The stress tensor in Cartesian

coordinates, for example, can be
represented as:

Physical tensor quantities are

symmetric, so that the tensor has
only six distinct values
Instead of trying to visualize all six
components of a tensor, we can
reduce the tensor to a vector or a
scalar

Visual Representation for

Multivariate Data Fields
Multiple data values a mixture of
scalar, vector, and even tensors
For a fluid-flow problem, we may
have fluid velocity, temperature, and
density values at each threedimensional position
Construct graphical objects,
sometimes referred to as glyphs,
with multiple parts.
Each part of a glyph represents a