Information Visualization Using Composable Layouts and Visual Sets

A modern military enterprise is characterized not only by its people, physical infrastructure and geography, but also by its business processes, knowledge management practices and fluid organizational structures. Management, coordination, planning and development of the enterprise all require awareness of its current state. To aid these functions, the DSTO task JNT 00/130 entitled "Assembly and Deployment of Defense Visualization Solutions" (ADDVIS) proposes the use of information visualization techniques to produce integrated enterprise situation awareness pictures tailored to meet the requirements of ADF functions such as capability development, system management and self-synchronisation. To this end, Information Technology Division (ITD) is performing research and development (R&D) into the next generation of information visualization systems which will enable the rapid assembly and deployment of Defense visualization solutions. InVision is a component-based software architecture for the rapid prototyping of information visualization solutions. Its evolutionary implementation has given rise to an experimental component infrastructure with the aid of which the assumptions and goals of the ADDVIS task are being tested. This report describes the CLOVIS class of views, along with the associated supporting InVision infrastructure. The versatility and generality of the CLOVIS class of views described in this report makes it ideal for rapid prototyping of information visualizations. Its subsumption of a number of existing information layouts constitutes significant progress towards one of the key goals of InVision: the integration of various visual representations, with each chosen on the basis of its particular suitability to the task at hand.
Original contains color plates: All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white.