Parallel coordinates: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:39, 23 October 2023

Revision as of 15:43, 21 November 2023

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== History ==

The idea of parallel coordinates is often said to originate in 1885 with the French mathematician [[Philbert Maurice d'Ocagne]]{{cite book |last=d'Ocagne|first=Maurice |year=1885 |title=Coordonnées parallèles et axiales : Méthode de

Parallel coordinates were often said to be invented by [[Philbert Maurice d'Ocagne]] in 1885,<ref name="pc-first">{{cite book |last=d'Ocagne |first=Maurice |year=1885 |title=Coordonnées parallèles et axiales : Méthode de transformation géométrique et procédé nouveau de calcul graphique déduits de la considération des coordonnées parallèles |publisher=Paris: Gauthier-Villars |url=https://archive.org/details/coordonnesparal00ocaggoog }}</ref> but even though the words "Coordonnées parallèles" appear in the book title this work has nothing to do with the visualization techniques of the same name; the book only describes a method of coordinate transformation. But even before 1885, parallel coordinates were used, for example in Henry Gannetts "General Summary, Showing the Rank of States, by Ratios, 1880",<ref name="hg">{{cite journal |first=Henry |last=Gannett |title=General Summary Showing the Rank of States by Ratios 1880 |url=http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~32803~1152181:General-summary,-showing-the-rank-o?sort=Pub_Date%2CPub_List_No_InitialSort&qvq=q:List_No%3D%274521.152%27%22%2B;sort:Pub_Date%2CPub_List_No_InitialSort;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=0&trs=1 }}</ref> or afterwards in Henry Gannetts "Rank of States and Territories in Population at Each Census, 1790-1890" in 1898. They were popularised again 87 years later by [[Alfred Inselberg]]<ref name="pc">{{cite journal |first=Alfred |last=Inselberg |title=The Plane with Parallel Coordinates |journal=Visual Computer |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=69–91 |year=1985 |doi=10.1007/BF01898350 |s2cid=15933827 }}</ref> in 1985 and systematically developed as a coordinate system starting from 1977. Some important applications are in [[Traffic collision avoidance system|collision avoidance algorithms]] for [[air traffic control]] (1987—3 USA patents), [[data mining]] (USA patent), [[computer vision]] (USA patent), Optimization, [[process control]], more recently in [[Intrusion detection system|intrusion detection]] and elsewhere.

transformation géométrique et procédé nouveau de calcul graphique déduits de la considération des coordonnées parallèles |publisher=Paris: Gauthier-Villars |url=https://archive.org/details/coordonnesparal00ocaggoog }}</ref>

who sought a way to provide graphic calculation of mathematical functions with alignment diagrams or [[nomogram]]s using parallel axes with different scales.

A three-variable equation, for example, could be solved using three parallel axes, where known values could be marked on their scales, a line drawn between them, and an unknown read on its scale at the point where the line intersects that scale.

The use of parallel coordinates as a visualization technique to show data is also often said to have originated earlier with [[Henry Gannett]] in work preceding the Statistical Atlas of the United States

for the 1890 Census, for example his "General Summary, Showing the Rank of States, by Ratios, 1880", <ref name="hg">{{cite journal |first=Henry |last=Gannett |title=General Summary Showing the Rank of States by Ratios 1880 |url=https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~32803~1152181}}</ref>

that shows the rank of 10 measures (population, occupations, wealth, manufacturing, agriculture, and so forth) on parallel axes connected by lines for each state.

However, both d'Ocagne and Gannet were far preceded in this by [[André-Michel Guerry]]

{{cite book |last=Guerry |first=André-Michel |title=Essai sur la Statistique Morale de la France

|publisher=Paris:Crochard |year:1833}}, Plate IV, "Influence de l'Age",

where he showed rankings of crimes against persons by age along parallel axes, connecting the same crime across age groups.

<ref>Friendly, M. (2022). The life and works of André-Michel Guerry, revisited. Sociological Spectrum, 42(4-6), 233–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/02732173.2022.2078450</ref>.

They were popularised again 87 years later by [[Alfred Inselberg]]<ref name="pc">{{cite journal |first=Alfred |last=Inselberg |title=The Plane with Parallel Coordinates |journal=Visual Computer |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=69–91 |year=1985 |doi=10.1007/BF01898350 |s2cid=15933827 }}</ref> in 1985 and systematically developed as a coordinate system starting from 1977. Some important applications are in [[Traffic collision avoidance system|collision avoidance algorithms]] for [[air traffic control]] (1987—3 USA patents), [[data mining]] (USA patent), [[computer vision]] (USA patent), Optimization, [[process control]], more recently in [[Intrusion detection system|intrusion detection]] and elsewhere.

==Higher dimensions==