Visual Representation

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visual representation and explanation

  • Yannis Ioannidis 3  

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Graphical representation

The concept of “representation” captures the signs that stand in for and take the place of something else [ 5 ]. Visual representation, in particular, refers to the special case when these signs are visual (as opposed to textual, mathematical, etc.). On the other hand, there is no limit on what may be (visually) represented, which may range from abstract concepts to concrete objects in the real world or data items.

In addition to the above, however, the term “representation” is often overloaded and used to imply the actual process of connecting the two worlds of the original items and of their representatives. Typically, the context determines quite clearly which of the two meanings is intended in each case, hence, the term is used for both without further explanation.

Underneath any visual representation lies a mapping between the set of items that are being represented and the set of visual elements that are used to represent them, i.e., to...

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Recommended Reading

Card S.K., Mackinlay J.D., and Shneiderman B. Information visualization. In Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think, 1999, pp. 1–34.

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Card S.K., Mackinlay J.D., and Shneiderman B. Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think. Morgan Kaufman, Los Altos, CA, 1999.

Foley J.D., van Dam A., Feiner S.K., and Hughes J.F. Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1990.

Haber E.M., Ioannidis Y., and Livny M. Foundations of visual metaphors for schema display. J. Intell. Inf. Syst., 3(3/4):263–298, 1994.

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Mitchell W. Representation. In Critical Terms for Literary Study,Lentricchia F and McLaughlin T. (eds.), 2nd edn., Chicago, IL. University of Chicago Press, 1995.

Tufte E.R. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Graphics Press, Cheshire, CO, 1983.

Tufte E.R. Envisioning Information. Graphics Press, Cheshire, CO, 1990.

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University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Yannis Ioannidis

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College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 266 Ferst Drive, 30332-0765, Atlanta, GA, USA

LING LIU ( Professor ) ( Professor )

Database Research Group David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, ON, Canada

M. TAMER ÖZSU ( Professor and Director, University Research Chair ) ( Professor and Director, University Research Chair )

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Ioannidis, Y. (2009). Visual Representation. In: LIU, L., ÖZSU, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-39940-9_449

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