Abstract

A fundamental issue in user interface design is the effective use of available screen space, commonly referred to as the screen real estate problem. This paper presents a new distortion-based viewing tool for exploring large information spaces through the use of a three-dimensional pliable surface. Arbitrarily-shaped regions (foci) on the surface may be selected and pulled towards or pushed away from the viewer thereby increasing or decreasing the level of detail contained within each region. Furthermore, multiple foci are smoothly blended together such that there is no loss of context. The manipulation and blending of foci is accomplished using a fairly simple mathematical model based on gaussian curves. The significance of this approach is that it utilizes precognitive perceptual cues about the three-dimensional surface to make the distortions comprehensible, and allows the user to interactively control the location, shape, and extent of the distortion in very large graphs or maps.

Citations