Many areas of scientific research involve complex multivariate data. One example of this is Information Retrieval. Document comparisons may be done using a large number of variables. Such conditions do not favour the more wellknown methods of visualization and graphical analysis, as it is rarely feasible to map each variable onto one aspect of even a three-dimensional, coloured and textured space.
Bead is a prototype system for the graphically-based exploration of information.
The additional dimension should allow the user to see separation more readily. Exploration on information visualization. The graph only includes citing articles where the year of publication is known.