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Project description:

The widespread use of information visualization is hampered by the lack of effective labeling techniques. We propose "excentric labeling", a new dynamic technique to label a neighborhood of objects located around the cursor. This technique does not intrude into the existing interaction, it is not computationally intensive, and was easily applied to several visualization applications. A pilot study indicated a strong speed benefit for tasks that involve the rapid exploration of large numbers of objects.

History: This project was mainly conducted during Jean-Daniel Fekete's visit at HCIL in the summer of 1998. A first prototype was developed rapidly, and revised during the fall. The presentation at CHI'99 generated a lot of interest so we decided to make the source available for review (see below).

Participants

Catherine Plaisant, Assistant Research Scientist, Human Computer Interaction Laboratory, University of Maryland
Jean-Daniel Fekete, Professor, Ecole des Mines de Nantes, France

Publications

Fekete, J.-D., Plaisant, C.
Excentric Labeling: Dynamic Neighborhood Labeling for Data Visualization
Revised version appears in the Proceedings of the Conference on Human factors in Computer Systems (CHI'99), ACM , New York, pp. 512-519.

Demos

A test program using a scatterplot/starfield-display
Map example
Cartography example

Software/Download/Licensing

The executables as well as the Java source code for excentric labels are available for download. Please read the licensing terms carefully and register first. This will lead you to the download area.

Excentric Labeling is one of the HCIL products available for licencing by the Office of Technology Liaison of the University of Maryland.

Related sites

See the other Visualization Projects at HCIL.