VRParaSet: A Virtual Reality Model for Visualizing Multidimensional Data

Visual analytics relies heavily on two-dimensional graphical representations. Going beyond 2D is useful as we can utilize additional dimensions to present complex data sets but requires more user efforts to navigate/rotate to the appropriate views. Moreover, multidimensional visual analytics in immersed environments has not been fully explored. In this paper, we present a virtual reality model for visualizing multidimensional data in parallel coordinates, called VRParaSet. Our approach stacks polylines traveling in the similar paths between two consecutive dimensions. We anchor the lines at the vertices to reduce occlusions, offer esthetic appearance, and reveal data-based structures not evident in 2D panels or contours. The proposed model is compared to its 2D and 3D equivalences through a user study of 19 participants. The results show that the virtual reality model, while potentially useful, requires a lot of cares, especially on navigation and interaction within the virtual space.