Transcript Slide 1
XML and Visualization
Matthew Burt
Megan Kelley
Overview
• A brief introduction to visualization
• Benefits of XML for visualization
• Examples and Demos of visualization
tools that use XML
• Questions?
What is Visualization?
• A graphical representation of abstract
information structure for human users
• A new level of presentation for data
structures
• A means for a user to more easily interact
with a large amount of information
How can Visualization be used?
• Graphically represent a complex data file,
such as an XML file
• Summarize large amounts of data
• Interactively present search results
• Visually show relationships between
multiple pieces of information
Power of Visualization
• A new look at information at scale that
would be difficult for human to mentally
process
• Presenting data visually sometimes allows
for new conclusions upon seeing
relationships
• http://www.commetrix.de/
(Documents/videos – FlashVideo)
Le Grand, B., Soto, M. (2001) Information Management – Topic Maps
Visualization, XML Europe 2000, Paris, France
“Fundamental factors for a good
visualization interface are ( ):
• An overview of the structure for a global
understanding of the structure and of the
relationships within the hierarchy,
• The ability to zoom and to select some
nodes,
• Dynamic requests in order to filter data in
real time”
Visualizing XML
• Graphically represent an XML file
• Search by text and tags
• Collapse and expand nodes
• Hydra3d XML visualization tool
– http://hydra3d.sourceforge.net/
• LukeLab Noder tool
– http://lukelab.com/lab/noder/
Benefits of XML for Visualization
• XML provides tagged data for visualization
software
• XML files can provide a hierarchical
arrangement of data
• XML separates content from presentation
Visualizing Structure through XML
Starlight tool crawls through file structures,
builds model, and outputs in XML
http://starlight.pnl.gov/appFile.stm
Six Degrees of Separation of Mohamed Atta
http://business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,35253,FF.html
(This example is used widely in research: this slide sourced directly from
www.coba.unt.edu/docsold/itds/FACULTY/evangelopoulos/bcis4660/Lecture10_MarakasChap3_Spring2006.ppt
XTM: XML Topic Maps
• XML format used to define a data model
and syntax to represent structure and
connections of information sources
• ISO Standard in 2000
• Topics -- Associations -- Occurrences
– http://www.topicmaps.org/xtm/
XTM Topic
<topic id="hamlet">
<instanceOf><topicRef xlink:href="#play"/></instanceOf>
<baseName>
<baseNameString>Hamlet, Prince of Denmark</baseNameString>
</baseName>
<occurrence>
<instanceOf><topicRef xlink:href="#plain-textformat"/></instanceOf>
<resourceRef
xlink:href="ftp://www.gutenberg.org/pub/gutenberg/etext97/1ws2610.
txt"/>
</occurrence>
</topic>
XTM Association
<association>
<instanceOf><topicRef xlink:href="#writtenby"/></instanceOf>
<member> <roleSpec>
<topicRef xlink:href="#author"/></roleSpec> <topicRef
xlink:href="#shakespeare"/>
</member>
<member> <roleSpec><topicRef
xlink:href="#work"/></roleSpec> <topicRef
xlink:href="#hamlet"/>
</member>
</association>
Topics in action
http://news.com.com/2104-1025_3-6041227.html?tag=st.bp
Visualization Tools that Use XML
ThinkMap
• Java app that displays structured data
– http://www.visualthesaurus.com/
• XML as data source
• XML-based config files
– Test changes “on the fly”
– Extend and customize API: one file can
control UI, one can control functionality
• Spider, Hierarchy, Clustering, Chronology
http://www.thinkmap.com/download/presskit/data_sheet/tm_data_sheet.pdf
Visualization Tools that Use XML
Kartoo
• Receives data from server through “XML
flow”
• If unstructured data, can execute query on
server, build links, send XML flow back to
Flash
– http://www.kartoo.com/flash04.php3
– http://www.ujiko.com/v2a/flash.php?langue=e
n
Example of Kartoo’s XML Flow to Interface
http://www.kartoo.net/e/eng/doc/modele.xml
http://ww3.kartoo.com
http://www.ujiko.com/v2a/flash.php?langue=en
Visualization Tools that Use XML
Aduna Cluster Map
• Uses XML-structured data files that
describe objects and the class tree for sets
of objects
– http://adunasoftware.com/products/technology/clustermap
/index.html
Aduna Cluster Map data file structure
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<ClassificationTree version="1.0">
<ObjectSet>
<Object ID="m0">
<Name>crumbs</Name>
<Location>http://aduna.biz/frameset/framecrumbs.jsp?content=%252Fproducts%252Fspectacle%252Fsysreqs.jsp
</Location>
</Object>
<Object ID="m1">
<Name>AutoFocus : Buy</Name>
<Location>http://aduna.biz/products/autofocus/buy.jsp</Location>
</Object>
<Object ID="m2">
<Name>Enterprise use of AutoFocus</Name>
<Location>http://aduna.biz/products/autofocus/af-enterpriseuse.jsp</Location>
</Object>
<Object ID="m3">
<Name>Aduna Metadata Server 2005.1 Release</Name>
<Location>http://aduna.biz/news/200503151603.jsp</Location>
</Object>
<Object ID="m4">
<Name>crumbs</Name>
<Location>http://aduna.biz/frameset/framecrumbs.jsp?content=%252Fnews%252F200412221200.jsp</Location>
</Object>
Visualization Tools that Use XML
Grokker
• Uses XML feeds to gather data from
content sources
http://www.grokker.com/
XML Format for Search:
OpenSearch
• OpenSearch Description
– XML file that describes engine and ways to
query
• OpenSearch Query Syntax
– <Url type="application/rss+xml"
template="http://example.com/?q={searchT
erms}&pw={startPage}"/>
• OpenSearch Response
– RSS or Atom format
• http://opensearch.a9.com/spec/1.1/
Questions?
Thank you!
Further Reading
• Edward Tufte (benchmark figure)
– The Visual Display of Quantitative
Information, Edward Tufte, Graphics Press,
1983.
• Chaomei Chen
• Jacques Bertin
• Ben Shneiderman