Supporting Exploratory Analysis with the Select and Slice Table

Abstract

In interactive visualization, selection techniques such as dynamic queries and brushing are used to specify and extract items of interest. In other words, users define areas of interest in data space that often have a clear semantic meaning. We call such areas Semantic Zones, and argue that support for their manipulation and reasoning with them is highly useful during exploratory analysis. An important use case is the use of these zones across different subsets of the data, for instance to study the population of semantic zones over time. To support this, we present the Select & Slice Table. Semantic zones are arranged along one axis of the table, and data subsets are arranged along the other axis of the table. Each cell contains a set of items of interest from a data subset that matches the selection specifications of a zone. Items in cells can be visualized in various ways, as a count, as an aggregation of a measure, or as a separate visualization, such that the table gives an overview of the relationship between zones and data subsets. Furthermore, users can reuse zones, combine zones, and compare and trace items of interest across different semantic zones and data subsets. We present two case studies to illustrate the support offered by the Select & Slice table during exploratory analysis of multivariate data.