Visualization

Two elements motivate the research activities of the ISC department on the Visualization topic. On the one hand, most of the information processed by the humans is perceived through vision. On the other hand, the current world sees an exponential growth of the data to be processed and understood. Social networks, financial markets, environment monitoring are only some of the numerous contexts facing this challenge. People are overflowed by complex information that is difficult to apprehend in an acceptable time.

 

Research in visualization aims to combine these two elements. Researchers rely on the impressive capacities of human vision to design methods and tools allowing to better understand and to better analyze individually or collectively large amounts of dynamic complex datasets.

Generally speaking, the software tools imagined in the Visualization research axis are generic in their very nature. Their application to a given context requires them to be configured and parameterized rather than to be structurally modified.

 

As a result of years of research and development in this domain two main software tools are especially worth mentioning: Calluna and Cadral.

 

Calluna is a visualization tool that combines original interactive graphics and innovative visual query methods to interact with a dataset. Considering its generic nature, Calluna can be used, for instance, to analyze balance sheets, to visualize electoral results as well as to monitor over time in a company.

 

Cadral has initially been used to model and visualize administrative processes depending on juridical texts with the aim to support civil servants to take correct decisions. Nevertheless it can also be used in other contexts such as logistics.

These two software tools are continuously improved and extended with new features derived either from the team’s scientific research or from pilot user feedback.