Copyright on this material is held by the authors. It is a process of transforming information into a visual form enabling the user to observe the information. On the computer science side, it uses techniques of computer graphics and imaging. Besides relying on visual computing and display it involves human beings. Thus, we need to take into account human perceptual and cognitive capabilities, human variations, and task characteristics.
Visualization is more than pretty pictures.
Successful visualizations can reduce the time it takes to get the information, make sense out of it, and enhance creative thinking. In contrast with most data used in scientific visualization, information is usually non-spatial or abstract. To create visualization, one needs to map the information into a physical space that will represent relationships contained in the information faithfully and efficiently. Finding a good spatial representation of the information at hand is one of the most difficult tasks in visualization of abstract information. Examples of information visualization driving research and development in this field will be given including visualization in the World Wide Web environment.