The breakthrough idea of parallel coordinates has enchanted many people with its cleverness and power. Al Inselberg, the source of that cleverness and power, ?nally shares the depth and breadth of his invention in this historically important book. I’ve been waiting impatiently for this exposition since I was captivated by Inselberg’slectureattheUniversityofMarylandin1979.Hehadalreadyunderstood the potential parallel coordinates has for generating insights into high-dimensional analysis and information visualization. In the following decades he polished the arguments, built effective software, and demonstrated value in important appli- tions. Nowabroadcommunityofreaderscanbene?tfromhisinsightsandeffective presentation. I believe that Inselberg’s parallel coordinates is a transformational ideal that ´ matches the importance of Rene Descartes’ (1596–1650) invention of Cartesian coordinates. Just as Cartesian coordinates help us understand 2D and 3D geometry, parallel coordinates offer fresh ways of thinking about and proving theorems in higher-dimensional geometries. At the same time they will lead to more powerful tools for solving practical problems in a wide variety of applications. It is rare to encounter such a mind-shattering idea with such historic importance. While Inselberg’s insight and exposition opens the door to many discoveries, there is much work to be done for generations of mathematicians, computer sci- tists, programmers, and domain experts who will need to build on these innovative ideas.
This book is about visualization, systematically incorporating the fantastic human pattern recognition into the problem-solving process, and focusing on parallel coordinates. The barrier, imposed by our three-dimensional habitation and perceptual experience, has been breached by this innovative and versatile methodology. The accurate visualization of multidimensional problems and multivariate data unlocks insights into the role of dimensionality.
Beginning with an introductory chapter on geometry, the mathematical foundations are intuitively developed, interlaced with applications to data mining, information visualization, computer vision, geometric modeling, collision avoidance for air traffic and process-control. Many results appear for the first time. Multidimensional lines, planes, proximities, surfaces and their properties are unambiguously recognized (i.e. convexity viewed in any dimension) enabling powerful construction algorithms (for intersections, interior-points, linear-programming).
Key features of Parallel Coordinates:
* An easy-to-read self-contained chapter on data mining and information visualization
* Numerous exercises with solutions, from basic to advanced topics, course projects and research directions
* "Fast Track" markers throughout provide a quick grasp of essential material.
* Extensive bibliography, index, and a chapter containing a collection of recent results (i.e. visualizing large networks, complex-valued functions and more)
Parallel Coordinates requires only an elementary knowledge of linear algebra. It is well-suited for self-study and as a textbook (or companion) for courses on information visualization, data mining, mathematics, statistics, computer science, engineering, finance, management, manufacturing, in scientific disciplines and even the arts.
