A Generic Framework for the Development of 3D Information Visualization Applications

The relatively new scientific discipline of information visualization is a promising approach to the problem of the ever-increasing information flood we are facing in today’s world of tightly connected, widely spanned networks and large data collections. The advantage of visualizing data stems from its ability to shift load from a human’s cognitive system to his more efficient perceptual system. The main trend in this scientific area clearly goes in the direction of 3D visualization techniques for information, since 2D visual interfaces and techniques have been thoroughly researched in the past. One of the challenges in this field lies in the efficient development and execution of applications supporting 3D information visualization fostering rapid development of experimental systems and their analysis and evaluation against real user requirements. In the area of 2D user interfaces and visualization techniques the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) paradigm, Model/View/Controller (MVC) paradigm, and declarative approaches using XML broadly dominate the application development and execution process. However, the structure of 3D information visualization applications is inherently more complex than in the 2D case. Trying to directly apply such models, techniques and paradigms to the development of 3D information visualization applications is at least questionable and a relatively unexplored field. Therefore, the goal of this thesis is to develop a model that is applicable to the development and execution of 3D information visualization applications in a cost effective and computationally efficient way, covering all aspects of information visualization, including data modeling, transformations, and presentation modeling in an integrated and declarative way. This is achieved by means of constructing a process model, developing an architecture, and an experimental implementation of a framework for the generic development and execution of 3D information visualization applications, including an evaluation of the computational efficiency of the execution