Patent ID: 8402382

Claim:
A method comprising: generating, by a computing device, display objects for display in a virtual environment, the display objects representing one or more collections of data; receiving, at a touch-based input device operatively coupled to the computing device, a user input comprising a gesture that at least partially encloses a group of the display objects representing the one or more collections of data, wherein the gesture intersects with a selection icon, wherein the selection icon is generated for display in response to detecting at least a portion of the gesture and prior to the gesture intersecting with the selection icon, wherein each display object of the group of display objects at least partially enclosed by the gesture is displaced at a different position in the virtual environment; determining, by the computing device, a distance between first and second end points of the gesture; selecting, by the computing device and after determining that the gesture intersects with the selection icon, an option associated with the distance from a plurality of options associated with a range of distances, wherein the distance is included in the range of distances; and in response to determining that the gesture intersects with the selection icon, generating, by the computing device and based at least in part on the selected option, the group of display objects for display in an axial alignment, wherein each display object of the group of display objects is stacked in the axial alignment, such that display objects of the group of display objects appear to be stacked on top of each other.