Visualization of Complex Health Data on Mobile Devices

Abstract

As we track and collect more and more personal health data using multimedia devices and systems, it is getting more and more complex to visualize our health data. This is further challenged as the mobile phone, in spite of its limited screen size and interaction possibilities, is for many persons the main tool for accessing and reviewing their data. We therefore examined how complex and heterogeneous health data can be visualized on mobile phones. We found two different visualization needs: "My health, now" gives objective feedback about my current health status, at a glance covering the last 72 hours, and in details on demand for the last 7 days. The visualization of "my health, in the past" is needed for reflection and analysis and covers the last up to 6 months. Our findings complement existing analyses of user interaction with self-tracking systems and provide suggestions for future research on visualization of health data.