Visualisation of Large Networks in 3-D Space: Issues in Implementation and Experimental Evaluation

Three dimensional visualisation has become a widespread scheme for helping users to access and manage large information network. In this report, various techniques for displaying depth information are reviewed, with an emphasis on stereoscopic displays. Input devices used to interact with a 3-D space are also examined. Issues in 3-D network visualisation are elicited from three viewpoints: psychological, task-related and implementational. Consideration of these issues leads to the design of a preliminary experimental programme for evaluating various network visualisation techniques. 1 Introduction In numerous application areas, large data structures pose difficulties to users. Problems occur in access and manipulation due to the complexity and the size of these data sets. For example, in software engineering, designing, managing, and maintaining software systems become more and more challenging 1 [12]. Along with this challenge comes the growing need to develop effective supporting ..