Técnicas de visualização de informações multidimensionais têm o potencial de auxiliar na análise visual e exploração de grandes conjuntos de dados, através do emprego de mecanismos que buscam tanto representar visualmente os dados quanto permitir ao usuário a interação com estas representações. Neste contexto, diversas técnicas têm sido desenvolvidas, muitas delas sem uma avaliação detalhada e aprofundada tanto de eficiência como de utilidade no suporte às necessidades dos usuários. Contudo, há relativamente pouco tempo começaram a ser publicados trabalhos abordando as diversas questões relacionadas à avaliação de usabilidade de sistemas ou das aplicações que implementam estas técnicas como forma de promover sua eficiente e efetiva utilização. A avaliação de usabilidade de interfaces de sistemas de visualização representa um desafio de pesquisa uma vez que elas apresentam significativas diferenças com relação a outros tipos de interface. Neste sentido, existe uma carência de sistematização (incluindo o uso de métodos e técnicas de avaliação de usabilidade) que explore e considere as características deste tipo de interface de maneira adequada. Esta tese investiga soluções viáveis para o desenvolvimento de uma abordagem sistemática para avaliação de usabilidade de técnicas de visualização de informações multidimensionais e apresenta as seguintes soluções ao problema em estudo: 1) determinação de uma taxonomia de tarefas específica relacionada ao uso de visualizações multidimensionais no processo de análise de dados e 2) adaptação de técnicas e métodos de avaliação de usabilidade, com o objetivo de torná-los mais efetivos ao contexto de sistemas de visualização de informações multidimensionais. / Multidimensional visualization techniques have the potential of supporting the visual analysis and exploration of large datasets, by means of providing visual representations and interaction techniques which allow users to interact with the data through their graphical representation. In this context, several techniques have been developed, most of them being reported without a broad and deep evaluation both regarding their efficiency and utility in supporting users tasks. Few years ago, thus quite recently, several works have been published reporting many issues related to the evaluation of visualization systems and applications, as a means of promoting their efficiency and effective use. In spite of these works, the usability evaluation of visualization systems’ graphical interfaces remains a challenge because of the significant differences between these interfaces and those of other systems. This way, there is a need of finding a systematic approach for such evaluations, including the definition of which usability methods and techniques are best suited for this kind of interfaces. This thesis reports our investigation of viable solutions for the development of a systematic approach for the usability evaluation of multidimensional information visualizations. We have conducted several case studies and experiments with users and have achieved the following contributions: 1) a taxonomy of visualization tasks, that is related to the use of interactive visualization techniques for the exploration and analysis of multidimensional datasets and 2) adaptation of usability evaluation techniques with the goal of making them more effective in the context of multidimensional information visualizations.

Orientador: Luiz Felipe Mendes de Moura / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T05:56:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Biazussi_JorgeLuiz_M.pdf: 4897786 bytes, checksum: 407214ced9492976cb44ade6e24f677e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Diferentes métodos para exploração dos óleos pesados surgiram nestes últimos anos. Um método que chamou a atenção da indústria foi o método que adiciona água ao escoamento, formando uma película lubrificante que facilita o escoamento deste óleo que pode escoar em diferentes padrões. O padrão considerado mais eficiente em relação à potencia requerida por vazão de óleo injetado é o padrão Core-Flow. Para a aplicação na indústria torna-se necessário o desenvolvimento de técnicas capazes de monitorar as condições do escoamento e a vazão de óleo. Somando técnicas de medida de fração volumétrica com técnicas de determinação da velocidade do fluido, pode-se desenvolver um método indireto capaz de estimar, entre outras coisas, a vazão de óleo. Sondas capacitivas utilizadas para medição de fração volumétrica apresentam potencial para determinação da espessura da película lubrificante de água em Core-Flow, bem como técnicas de visualização de escoamento com câmeras de filmagem rápida. Calculou-se a espessura da camada de água através de um programa desenvolvido em LabVIEW que analisa as imagens do escoamento. Realizou-se uma estimativa da velocidade média do óleo através da medição da velocidade da interface. A velocidade da interface foi calculada aplicando a técnica de correlação cruzada entre as imagens adquiridas do escoamento. Com estes parâmetros calculados, foi possível estimar o coeficiente de escorregamento entre as fases e calcular a vazão de óleo / Abstract: Different methods for exploitation of heavy oils have emerged in recent years. One method that caught the attention of industry was the method that adds water to form a lubricating film which facilitates the flow of oil. The flow pattern considered the most efficient in terms of frictional pressure gradient reduction factors is the core annular flow. For application in industry it is necessary to develop techniques to assess the flow conditions and the oil flow rate. Merging techniques for measuring volume fraction with those for determining the fluid velocity, it can be developed an indirect method to estimate, among other things, the oil flow rate. Capacitive probes used for measuring volume fraction have a great potential for determining the thickness of the lubricating film of water in core-annular flow, as well as visualization techniques with fast video cameras. We calculated the thickness of the water film through a program developed in LabVIEW that analyzes the images of the flow. The average velocity of the oil was estimated by measuring the speed of the interface. The speed of the interface was calculated using the cross-correlation technique. With these parameters calculated, it was possible to estimate the slip ratio between the phases and calculate the oil flow rate / Mestrado / Termica e Fluidos / Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

The successful analysis of LiDAR data for archaeological research requires an evaluation of effects of different vegetation types and the use of adequate visualization techniques for the identification of archaeological features. The Ceibal-Petexbatun Archaeological Project conducted a LiDAR survey of an area of 20 x 20 km around the Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala, which comprises diverse vegetation classes, including rainforest, secondary vegetation, agricultural fields, and pastures. We developed a classification of vegetation through object-based image analysis (OBIA), primarily using LiDAR-derived datasets, and evaluated various visualization techniques of LiDAR data. We then compared probable archaeological features identified in the LiDAR data with the archaeological map produced by Harvard University in the 1960s and conducted ground-truthing in sample areas. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the OBIA approach to vegetation classification in archaeological applications, and suggests that the Red Relief Image Map (RRIM) aids the efficient identification of subtle archaeological features. LiDAR functioned reasonably well for the thick rainforest in this high precipitation region, but the densest parts of foliage appear to create patches with no or few ground points, which make the identification of small structures problematic.

There is currently no set standard for evaluating visualization environments. Even though the number of visualizations has increased, there is a tendency to overlook the evaluation of their usability. This thesis investigates how a visualization tool for crowd trajectory data can be made using the visualization technique of animated maps and the JavaScript library D3.js. Furthermore it explores how such a visualization tool can be evaluated according to a suggested framework for spatio-temporal data.     The developed tool uses data taken from the UCY Graphics Lab, consisting of 415 trajectories collected from a video recorded at a campus area. User evaluation was performed through a user test with a total of six participants, measuring effectiveness as completed tasks, and satisfaction as ease of use for three different amounts of trajectories. Qualitative data was recorded through using the think aloud protocol to gather feedback to further improve the implementation. The evaluation shows that the visualization tool is usable and effective, and that the technique of animated maps in combination with a heatmap can aid users when exploring and formulating ideas about data of this kind. It is also concluded that the framework is a possible tool to utilize when validating visualization systems for crowd trajectory data. / Det finns i dagsläget ingen etablerad standard för att utvärdera visualiseringssystem. Även om antalet visualiseringar har ökat finns det en tendens att förbise utvärderandet av deras användbarhet. I det här arbetet undersöker vi hur ett visualiseringsverktyg för data av gångbanor hos folksamlingar kan skapas, med hjälp utav visualiseringsmetoden animated maps och JavaScript-biblioteket D3.js. Vidare undersöker vi hur det är möjligt att evaluera ett visualiseringsverktyg utefter ett givet ramverk.  Visualiseringsverktyget använder data från UCY Graphics Lab. Datan består av 415 gångbanor som är insamlade från en videoinspelning av ett campusområde. En utvärdering genomfördes sedan med sex deltagare, där visualiseringens effektivitet och användarvänlighet mättes. Frågorna ställdes för tre olika mängder av gångbanor. Kvalitativa data dokumenterades genom en så kallad ''think aloud'', för att ge återkoppling och förslag på möjliga förbättringar av visualiseringen. Evalueringen visar på att animated maps i kombination med en heatmap kan hjälpa användare att utforska data av gångbanor hos folksamlingar, samt att verktyget är effektivt och användbart. Det är också visat att det ramverk som användes vid evalueringen är ett möjligt verktyg för att validera visualiseringsverktyg av den typ som gjorts i det här projektet.

Les dispositifs mobiles sont aujourd’hui omniprésents dans notre quotidien. Leurs évolutions technologiques ainsi que les moyens de communication toujours plus rapides font que les utilisateurs manipulent toujours plus d’informations sur leurs dispositifs mobiles, modifiant ainsi l’usage qu’ils en font, et remplaçant petit à petit les ordinateurs de bureau. Cependant les dispositifs mobiles ne s’utilisent pas de la même manière que les ordinateurs de bureau et doivent faire face à des contraintes qui leur sont propres. En particulier, les écrans de taille réduite ne permettent pas d’afficher autant d’information que sur l’écran d’un ordinateur de bureau. De plus, ces écrans, tactiles pour la plupart, sont utilisés à la fois comme périphérique d’entrée et de sortie, entraînant ainsi des problèmes d’occultation d’une partie de l’écran lors de l’interaction. Ces constats et limitations posent ainsi le problème de la visualisation interactive de grandes quantités d’information sur dispositifs mobiles.Le problème s’articule donc selon deux axes fortement liés : d’une part la visualisation d’information et d’autre part l’interaction sur dispositifs mobiles. Pour le premier axe, nous nous sommes intéressés aux techniques de visualisation permettant de visualiser à la fois une vue globale de l’espace d’information et une sous-partie détaillée de celui-ci. En effet, visualiser uniquement une sous-partie de l’espace d’information rend sa compréhension difficile du fait du manque de contexte. A l’inverse, visualiser l’espace d’information complet à l’écran le rend illisible.Pour le second axe, nous nous sommes interessés aux techniques d’interaction pour naviguer dans l’espace d’information. En effet, la variété des capteurs disponibles aujourd’hui dans les dispositifs mobiles définit un large espace de possibilités en termes de modalités d’interaction.Nos travaux apportent deux types de contribution : conceptuelles et pratiques. Nous présentons tout d’abord un espace de conception des modalités de navigation en l’instanciant au cas des dispositifs mobiles : cet espace permet de décrire, comparer et concevoir des modalités d’interaction pour la tâche de navigation. Nous présentons ensuite un modèle conceptuel de navigation multimodale permettant de naviguer dans un espace d’information multi-échelles.Basé sur un état de l’art des techniques de visualisation sur dispositifs mobiles, nous avons conçu et évalué expérimentalement une technique de visualisation bifocale. Enfin, en nous reposant sur deux espaces conceptuels et l’état de l’art des modalités d’interaction sur dispositifs mobiles, nous proposons plusieurs techniques d’interaction multimodale conçues et évaluées expérimentalement pour naviguer dans un espace d’information multi-échelles. / Mobile devices are now ubiquitous in everyday computing. Technological advances and increasing mobile network performance allow users to manipulate more and more information on their mobile devices, changing the use they make of these types of devices, which are gradually replacing desktop computers. However mobile devices are not used in the same way as desktops and face specific constraints. In particular, smaller screens fail to display as much information as a computer screen. In addition, these screens, mostly tactile, are used as both input and output devices, leading to occlusion of a portion of the screen during touch interaction. These findings and limitations give rise to the problem of interactive visualization of large amounts of information on mobile devices.We addressed this problem by considering two related research axes: on the one hand information visualization and on the other hand interaction on mobile devices.For the first axis, we focused on visualization techniques that provide an overview of the information space and a detailed subset of it. Indeed, only one view of a subset of the information space makes it difficult to understand it because of the lack of context. Conversely, visualizing the complete information space on the screen of a mobile device makes it unreadable.For the second axis, we studied interaction techniques for navigating an information space. Facing the variety of sensors available in todays mobile devices, there is a vast set of possibilities in terms of interaction modalities.We provide two types of contribution: conceptual and practical.First we present a design space of navigation techniques on mobile devices: this design space enables us to describe, compare and design interaction modalities for the task of navigation in an information space. Second we propose a conceptual model of multimodal navigation for navigating a multiscale information space.Based on a state of the art of visualization techniques on mobile devices, we designed, developed and experimentally tested a bifocal view on a mobile device. By relying on our design space and by operationalizing our conceptual model of navigation, we designed developed and experimentally compared several multimodal interaction techniques for navigating a multiscale information space.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:56:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LeonardoEBS_DISSERT.pdf: 24615429 bytes, checksum: 65db01cbf658b5c63cee811e9c19bafc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-07-29 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Self-organizing maps (SOM) are artificial neural networks widely used in the data mining field, mainly because they constitute a dimensionality reduction technique given the fixed grid of neurons associated with the network. In order to properly the partition and visualize the SOM network, the various methods available in the literature must be applied in a post-processing stage, that consists of inferring, through its neurons, relevant characteristics of the data set. In general, such processing applied to the network neurons, instead of the entire database, reduces the computational costs due to vector quantization. This work proposes a post-processing of the SOM neurons in the input and output spaces, combining visualization techniques with algorithms based on gravitational forces and the search for the shortest path with the greatest reward. Such methods take into account the connection strength between neighbouring neurons and characteristics of pattern density and distances among neurons, both associated with the position that the neurons occupy in the data space after training the network. Thus, the goal consists of defining more clearly the arrangement of the clusters present in the data. Experiments were carried out so as to evaluate the proposed methods using various artificially generated data sets, as well as real world data sets. The results obtained were compared with those from a number of well-known methods existent in the literature / Os mapas auto-organiz?veis (SOM) s?o redes neurais artificiais amplamente utilizadas no campo da minera??o de dados, principalmente por se constitu?rem numa t?cnica de redu??o de dimensionalidade dada a grade fixa de neur?nios associada ? rede. A fim de particionar e visualizar adequadamente a rede SOM, os diversos m?todos existentes na literatura devem ser aplicados em uma etapa de p?s-processamento nos seus neur?nios, visando inferir caracter?sticas relevantes do conjunto de dados. Em geral, tal processamento efetuado sobre os neur?nios da rede, ao inv?s do conjunto de dados em sua totalidade, reduz o custo computacional, dada a quantiza??o vetorial. Este trabalho prop?e p?s-processamentos dos neur?nios da rede SOM nos espa?os de entrada e de sa?da, aliando t?cnicas de visualiza??o a algoritmos baseados na for?a gravitacional e na procura do menor caminho com maior recompensa. Tais m?todos levam em considera??o for?as de liga??o entre neur?nios vizinhos e caracter?sticas de dist?ncias e densidade de padr?es, ambas associadas a posi??o que o neur?nio ocupa no espa?o dos dados ap?s o treinamento da rede. Dessa forma, busca-se definir mais nitidamente a disposi??o dos agrupamentos presentes nos dados. Experimentos foram realizados para avaliar os m?todos propostos utilizando diversos conjuntos de dados gerados artificialmente, assim como conjuntos de dados do mundo real. Os resultados obtidos foram comparados com aqueles provenientes de alguns m?todos bem conhecidos existentes na literatura

Context: Agile/lean development has been successful situations where small teams collaborate over long periods of time with project stakeholders. Unclear is how such teams plan and coordinate their work in such situations where inter-dependencies with other projects exist. In large organizations, scattered teams and complex team structure makes it difficult for every stakeholder to have a clear understanding of project information. These factors make it difficult for large‐scale organizations to adopt the agile/lean development paradigm. Objectives: The goal of conducting this study is to find the information visualization techniques that ease or resolve the challenges of agile development in large-scale organizations. The study reports the challenges of agile development and information visualization techniques in literature and reported by industrial experts. Additionally, proposed a guideline that how information visualization technique can be used to ease or resolve related challenge of agile development. Methods: For this particular study, two research methodologies are used; Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and Industrial Survey. Two SLRs are performed for finding 1) challenges of agile development and 2) information visualization techniques in agile development. Data sources like Engineering Village (Inspec/ Compendex), IEEE Explore digital library, ACM digital library, Science Direct, ISI-Web of knowledge; Scopus were used to select primary study. Industrial survey was conducted in order to obtain empirical evidence to our findings. In survey, mainly questions were related to challenges of agile development and information visualization techniques practiced by industrial experts. Results: 84 different challenges of agile development found in literature and by applying grounded theory we found 9 distinct categories of challenges. There were 55 challenges reported by industrial experts in survey which later grouped into 10 distinct challenges. 45 information visualization techniques found in literature and grouped into 21 distinct technologies. There were 47 different information visualization techniques reported by industrial experts. When we grouped these techniques there were 9 distinct technologies found by applying open, axial and selective coding of grounded theory Conclusions: Systematic Literature Review and Industrial Survey confirmed that information visualization techniques can be used to ease or resolve challenges of agile development. Along with other visualization techniques, Data Flow Diagrams, UML, Use Case Diagrams, Burn Down Charts, Scrum Story Board, Kanban Boards and Gantt Chart are highly reported techniques found through systematic literature review and later confirmed by industrial experts. On the other hand, through survey we found that industrial experts mainly rely on informal and customized information visualization techniques to visualize information.

<div>In conventional computer graphics and visualization, images are synthesized following the planar pinhole camera (PPC) model. The PPC approximates physical imaging devices such as cameras and the human eye, which sample the scene with linear rays that originate from a single viewpoint, i.e. the pinhole. In addition, the PPC takes a snapshot of the scene, sampling it at a single instant in time, or timepoint, for each image. Images synthesized with these single viewpoint and single timepoint constraints are familiar to the user, as they emulate images captured with cameras or perceived by the human visual system. However, visualization using the PPC model suffers from the limitation of occlusion, when a region of interest (ROI) is not visible due to obstruction by other data. The conventional solution to the occlusion problem is to rely on the user to change the view interactively to gain line of sight to the scene ROIs. This approach of sequential navigation has the shortcomings of (1) inefficiency, as navigation is wasted when circumventing an occluder does not reveal an ROI, (2) inefficacy, as a moving or a transient ROI can hide or disappear before the user reaches it, or as scene understanding requires visualizing multiple distant ROIs in parallel, and (3) user confusion, as back-and-forth navigation for systematic scene exploration can hinder spatio-temporal awareness.</div><div><br></div><div>In this thesis we propose a novel paradigm for handling occlusions in visualization based on generalizing an image to incorporate samples from multiple viewpoints and multiple timepoints. The image generalization is implemented at camera model level, by removing the same timepoint restriction, and by removing the linear ray restriction, allowing for curved rays that are routed around occluders to reach distant ROIs. The paradigm offers the opportunity to greatly increase the information bandwidth of images, which we have explored in the context of both desktop and head-mounted display visualization, as needed in virtual and augmented reality applications. The challenges of multi-viewpoint multi-timepoint visualization are (1) routing the non-linear rays to find all ROIs or to reach all known ROIs, (2) making the generalized image easy to parse by enforcing spatial and temporal continuity and non-redundancy, (3) rendering the generalized images quickly as required by interactive applications, and (4) developing algorithms and user interfaces for the intuitive navigation of the compound cameras with tens of degrees of freedom. We have addressed these challenges (1) by developing a multiperspective visualization framework based on a hierarchical camera model with PPC and non-PPC leafs, (2) by routing multiple inflection point rays with direction coherence, which enforces visualization continuity, and without intersection, which enforces non-redundancy, (3) by designing our hierarchical camera model to provide closed-form projection, which enables porting generalized image rendering to the traditional and highly-efficient projection followed by rasterization pipeline implemented by graphics hardware, and (4) by devising naturalistic user interfaces based on tracked head-mounted displays that allow deploying and retracting the additional perspectives intuitively and without simulator sickness.</div>

<p> In the history of scientific visualization techniques there is a lack of social science practices and methodologies. The advent of modern computer graphics brought the use of visualizations into a whole new era, but even though the tools by which such modern visualizations are created become easier to access and use, the lack of social science researchers harvesting the benefits of such tools still remain. This ease of use, increase in power and accessibility plus the ever growing need within the natural sciences to augment the human senses has further complicated the relationship between scientific methodologies, validity, reliability and the use of visualization techniques. This relationship must be explored, demystified and understood in order to fully grasp the impact of visualization practices when incorporated into any given scientific method. Within the social sciences there is one example of a tradition that has since its conception carried within it a graphical notion and a visualization practice. Time geography, a theory/method from the field of human/cultural geography has at its core a set of visualization techniques that encapsulate the very framework of time geographical analysis. Since it has been an integral part of the method trough out its history, it provides the perfect example for the study of the relationship between graphical visualization techniques and methodological development. The essay uses time geography as a case to construct and try out a set of scientific and methodological perspectives on the use of modern visualization techniques in social science practices. It is not an attempt to critically deconstruct this relationship within time geography, rather it points to a possible approach to the study of visualization techniques and their impact/role in the development of social science practices.</p> / <p>Den vetenskapliga visualiserings historia visar en tydlig brist på exempel från samhällsvetenskapliga praktiker och metoder. Den moderna datorgrafikens utveckling har tagit den vetenskapliga visualiseringen till nya nivåer, men trots att verktygen för skapandet av moderna datorgrafiska visualiseringar blivit lättare att hantera och förfoga över lyser de samhällsvetenskapliga exemplen på adopterandet av dessa verktyg fortfarande med sin frånvaro. Vertygens ökande grad av användarvänlighet och kraft, samt de naturvetenskapliga traditionernas ständigt växande behov att gå bortom de mänskliga sinnenas begränsningar har gjort relationen mellan visualiseringstekniker och vetenskapliga metoder, dess reliabilitet och validitet ytterligare komplicerad. För atttill fullo förstå hur inkorporerandet av visuella praktiker och modeller påverkar en metods utveckling i övrigt måste denna relation utforskas och analyseras. Inom samhällsvetenskapen finns en tradition som sedan sin tillkomst burit med sig ett visuellt språk och en visualiseringspraktik. Tidsgeografin, en delvis kulturgeografisk tradition har i själva sitt kärnspråk en serie viusaliseringsmodeller vilka är central del av metodens analysverktyg. Tidsgeografin erbjuder därmed ett utmärkt exempel för studier av relationen mellan vetenskapliga visualiseringspraktiker och metodologisk utveckling. Uppsatsen använder tidsgeografins metod och historia som en fallstudie i ett försök att konstruera och pröva ett antal vetenskapsteoretiska och metodologiska perspektiv på användandet av vetenskaplig visualisering inom samhällsvetenskapen. Uppsatsen är inte ett försök att kritiskt dekonstruera tidsgeografin, snarare visar den på en möjlig väg att närma sig studiet av moderna visualiseringsteknikers påverkan/roll i samhällsvetenskaplig metodutveckling.</p>

In the history of scientific visualization techniques there is a lack of social science practices and methodologies. The advent of modern computer graphics brought the use of visualizations into a whole new era, but even though the tools by which such modern visualizations are created become easier to access and use, the lack of social science researchers harvesting the benefits of such tools still remain. This ease of use, increase in power and accessibility plus the ever growing need within the natural sciences to augment the human senses has further complicated the relationship between scientific methodologies, validity, reliability and the use of visualization techniques. This relationship must be explored, demystified and understood in order to fully grasp the impact of visualization practices when incorporated into any given scientific method. Within the social sciences there is one example of a tradition that has since its conception carried within it a graphical notion and a visualization practice. Time geography, a theory/method from the field of human/cultural geography has at its core a set of visualization techniques that encapsulate the very framework of time geographical analysis. Since it has been an integral part of the method trough out its history, it provides the perfect example for the study of the relationship between graphical visualization techniques and methodological development. The essay uses time geography as a case to construct and try out a set of scientific and methodological perspectives on the use of modern visualization techniques in social science practices. It is not an attempt to critically deconstruct this relationship within time geography, rather it points to a possible approach to the study of visualization techniques and their impact/role in the development of social science practices. / Den vetenskapliga visualiserings historia visar en tydlig brist på exempel från samhällsvetenskapliga praktiker och metoder. Den moderna datorgrafikens utveckling har tagit den vetenskapliga visualiseringen till nya nivåer, men trots att verktygen för skapandet av moderna datorgrafiska visualiseringar blivit lättare att hantera och förfoga över lyser de samhällsvetenskapliga exemplen på adopterandet av dessa verktyg fortfarande med sin frånvaro. Vertygens ökande grad av användarvänlighet och kraft, samt de naturvetenskapliga traditionernas ständigt växande behov att gå bortom de mänskliga sinnenas begränsningar har gjort relationen mellan visualiseringstekniker och vetenskapliga metoder, dess reliabilitet och validitet ytterligare komplicerad. För atttill fullo förstå hur inkorporerandet av visuella praktiker och modeller påverkar en metods utveckling i övrigt måste denna relation utforskas och analyseras. Inom samhällsvetenskapen finns en tradition som sedan sin tillkomst burit med sig ett visuellt språk och en visualiseringspraktik. Tidsgeografin, en delvis kulturgeografisk tradition har i själva sitt kärnspråk en serie viusaliseringsmodeller vilka är central del av metodens analysverktyg. Tidsgeografin erbjuder därmed ett utmärkt exempel för studier av relationen mellan vetenskapliga visualiseringspraktiker och metodologisk utveckling. Uppsatsen använder tidsgeografins metod och historia som en fallstudie i ett försök att konstruera och pröva ett antal vetenskapsteoretiska och metodologiska perspektiv på användandet av vetenskaplig visualisering inom samhällsvetenskapen. Uppsatsen är inte ett försök att kritiskt dekonstruera tidsgeografin, snarare visar den på en möjlig väg att närma sig studiet av moderna visualiseringsteknikers påverkan/roll i samhällsvetenskaplig metodutveckling.