Information Visualization

Presenting complex data in visual form breaks down the barriers between information and understanding. The advantages of visual representation include:

• Improves Situational Awareness - Speeds detection of patterns in volumes of data; innate capabilities for visual pattern detection allow people to see visual patterns they might miss in textual information
• Extracts more value from existing data - Visualizations can combine the output from disparate sensors and data sources into an uneasily understood picture
• Easier to communicate the results of an analysis to others in pictorial form - Particularly useful when communicating to superiors or trainees who are not experts in the analysis process
• Reduces the analyst's mental workload - Lots of data can be presented in a concise visual picture, so there's no need to sift and scroll through piles of dense data
• Facilitates training - Making the data make more sense eases the transition of new analysts into a complex domain