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Formalizing Visualization Design Knowledge as Constraints: Actionable and Extensible Models in Draco

Dominik Moritz, Chenglong Wang, Gregory Nelson, Halden Lin, Adam M. Smith, Bill Howe, Jeffrey Heer. IEEE Trans. Visualization & Comp. Graphics (Proc. InfoVis), 2019
Figure for Formalizing Visualization Design Knowledge as Constraints: Actionable and Extensible Models in Draco
Our implementation of the optimal encoding search process using constraints. Draco compiles a user query (including the dataset, the partial specification, and the task) into a set of rules and combines them with the existing knowledge base to form an ASP program. Draco then calls Clingo to solve the program to obtain the optimal answer set. Finally, Draco translates the answer set into a Vega-Lite specification.
Materials
PDF | Software | Best Paper Award
Abstract
There exists a gap between visualization design guidelines and their application in visualization tools. While empirical studies can provide design guidance, we lack a formal framework for representing design knowledge, integrating results across studies, and applying this knowledge in automated design tools that promote effective encodings and facilitate visual exploration. We propose modeling visualization design knowledge as a collection of constraints, in conjunction with a method to learn weights for soft constraints from experimental data. Using constraints, we can take theoretical design knowledge and express it in a concrete, extensible, and testable form: the resulting models can recommend visualization designs and can easily be augmented with additional constraints or updated weights. We implement our approach in Draco, a constraint-based system based on Answer Set Programming (ASP). We demonstrate how to construct increasingly sophisticated automated visualization design systems, including systems based on weights learned directly from the results of graphical perception experiments.
BibTeX
@article{2019-draco,
  title = {Formalizing Visualization Design Knowledge as Constraints: Actionable and Extensible Models in Draco},
  author = {Moritz, Dominik AND Wang, Chenglong AND Nelson, Gregory AND Lin, Halden AND Smith, Adam AND Howe, Bill AND Heer, Jeffrey},
  journal = {IEEE Trans. Visualization \& Comp. Graphics (Proc. InfoVis)},
  year = {2019},
  url = {https://idl.uw.edu/papers/draco},
  doi = {10.1109/TVCG.2018.2865240}
}