Abstract:
Uncertainty can arise in any stage of a visual analytics process, especially
in data-intensive applications with a sequence of data transformations.
Additionally, throughout the process of multidimensional, multivariate data
analysis, uncertainty due to data transformation and integration may split,
merge, increase, or decrease. This dynamic characteristic along with other
features of uncertainty pose a great challenge to effective uncertainty-aware
visualization. This paper presents a new framework for modeling uncertainty
and characterizing the evolution of the uncertainty information through
analytical processes. Based on the framework, we have designed a visual
metaphor called uncertainty flow to visually and intuitively summarize how
uncertainty information propagates over the whole analysis pipeline. Our
system allows analysts to interact with and analyze the uncertainty
information at different levels of detail. Three experiments were conducted
to demonstrate the effectiveness and intuitiveness of our design.