The perspective wall

TLDR

Large information spaces overwhelm workspaces that lack efficient use of space and time, especially when information is linear, producing wide, inefficient 2D layouts. This paper introduces the Perspective W’aU technique for visualizing linear information by smoothly integrating detailed and contextual views. It employs hardware‑accelerated 3D interactive animation to fold wide 2D layouts into intuitive 3D visualizations featuring a central detail panel and two perspective context panels. The resulting visualization improves efficient use of space and time.

Abstract

Tasks that involve large information spaces overwhelm workspaces that do not support efiicient use of space and time. For example, case studies indicate that information often contains linear components, which can result in 2D layouts with wide, inefficient aspect ratios. This paper describes a technique called the Perspective W’aU for visualizing linear information by smoothly integrating detailed and contextual views. It uses hardware support for 3D interactive animation to fold wide 2D layouts into intuitive 3D visualizations that have a center panel for detail and two perspective panels for context. The resulting visualization supports efficient use of space and time.