MULTIDIMENSIONAL VISUALIZATION AND ITS APPLICATIONS
Alfred Inselberg
School of Mathematical Sciences
Tel Aviv University, Israel, and
Senior Fellow in Visualization, San Diego SuperComputing Center, USA
Noon to 2 p.m., Friday, November 3, 2006
Duques Hall, Room 552
The desire to understand the underlying geometry of multivariate (multidimensional)
problems, has motivated several visualization methods to augment our limited 3dimensional perception. After a short overview, Parallel Coordinates are introduced and
rigorously developed obtaining a one-to-one mapping between subsets of N-space and
subsets of 2-space. This leads to construction algorithms in N-space involving
intersections, proximity, interior point construction, line and plane topologies useful in
approximations and Computer Vision, as well as Collision Avoidance Algorithms for Air
Traffic Control. It is a VISUAL Multidimensional Coordinate system. Applications to
Visual and Automatic Data Mining are illustrated with real multivariate datasets (some
with hundreds of variables) together with a Decision Support system capable of
doing Feasibility, Trade-Off and Sensitivity Analyses in complex multivariate processes.
PS. Do not be intimidated by this formal description. The speaker is also
well known for his numerological anecdotes and palindromic digressions!
Alfred Inselberg received a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and Physics (1965) from the
University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and was subsequently employed at the IBM
Scientific Research Centers in the USA. He also held academic positions at the
University of Illinois, UCLA, USC, Technion and Ben-Gurion University in Israel. In
1996 he was elected Senior Fellow at the San Diego Supercomputing Center. He invented
and developed the multidimensional visualization methodology known as "Parallel
Coordinates" authoring numerous technical papers; receiving several patents and awards.
As of 1995 he is a Professor at the School of Mathematical Sciences of Tel Aviv
University. Now he is completing a textbook on "Parallel Coordinates" (SpringerVerlag) ... and Hi Tech entertainment.