Exploring data relations across multiple views has been a common task in many domains such as bioinformatics, cybersecurity, and healthcare. To support this, various techniques (e.g., visual links and brushing & linking) are used to show related visual elements across views via lines and highlights. However, understanding the relations using these techniques, when many related elements are scattered, can be difficult due to spatial distance and complexity. To address this, we present iTrace, an interactive visualization technique to effectively trace cross-view data relationships. iTrace leverages the concept of interactive focus transitions, which allows users to see and directly manipulate their focus as they navigate between views. By directing the user’s attention through smooth transitions between related elements, iTrace makes it easier to follow data relationships. We demonstrate the effectiveness of iTrace with a user study, and we conclude with a discussion of how iTrace can be broadly used to enhance data exploration in various types of visualizations.

This study explores the representation of youth in US policy documents by analyzing how research on youth topics is cited within these policies. The research focuses on three key questions: identifying the frequently discussed topics in youth research that receive citations in policy documents, discerning patterns in youth research that contribute to higher citation rates in policy, and comparing the alignment between topics in youth research and those in citing policy documents. Through this analysis, the study aims to shed light on the relationship between academic research and policy formulation, highlighting areas where youth issues are effectively integrated into policy and contributing to the broader goal of enhancing youth engagement in societal decision-making processes.

Multiple-view visualization (MV) has been heavily used in visual analysis tools for sensemaking of data in various domains (e.g., bioinformatics, cybersecurity and text analytics). One common task of visual analysis with multiple views is to relate data across different views. For example, to identify threats, an intelligence analyst needs to link people from a social network graph with locations on a crime-map, and then search for and read relevant documents. Currently, exploring cross-view data relationships heavily relies on view-coordination techniques (e.g., brushing and linking), which may require significant user effort on many trial-and-error attempts, such as repetitiously selecting elements in one view, and then observing and following elements highlighted in other views. To address this, we present SightBi, a visual analytics approach for supporting cross-view data relationship explorations. We discuss the design rationale of SightBi in detail, with identified user tasks regarding the use of cross-view data relationships. SightBi formalizes cross-view data relationships as biclusters, computes them from a dataset, and uses a bi-context design that highlights creating stand-alone relationship-views. This helps preserve existing views and offers an overview of cross-view data relationships to guide user exploration. Moreover, SightBi allows users to interactively manage the layout of multiple views by using newly created relationship-views. With a usage scenario, we demonstrate the usefulness of SightBi for sensemaking of cross-view data relationships.