Homework #2:  Multi-dimensional visualization

Your assignment is to find some interesting data, explore it using some visualization tools, and write a short report.  This is an individual assignment.

Data:  Find some data of interest to you.  The data should be large and complex enough that visualization is needed.  It should be tabular and have at least 500 tuples and at least 5 attributes.  Here are some data ideas:

• intelligence data
• census data  (www.census.gov, www.bls.gov, www.fedstats.gov)
• stock market data
• sports data
• network intrusion detection (data)
• scientific experiments (data, description)
• bioinformatics (data, description)

Visualization:  Now, examine your data using the 2 visualization tools below.  Each tool has documentation about its data format and user manual. Each tool is also described by papers in the reading list. You can cut-n-paste data into these tools directly from Excel.  The visualization tools are downloadable for demo use -- do NOT distribute:

• Spotfire
• TableLens (a.k.a. Eureka by Inxight)

Report:  Write a 2-page report about your data findings and about the visualization tools.  You should specifically answer these 3 questions:

1. Data:  topic, number of items and attributes, and meaning of the items and attributes. Brief.
2. Data findings:  List 3 interesting, non-trivial findings in your data (e.g. the more advanced types of insights that we discussed in class).  Did you find answers to questions you had about the data? Anything surprising? Back up your claims with pictures (Alt-PrintScrn captures a screenshot that can be pasted into word processors).
3. Tool comparison:  Compare the 2 tools in terms of the visual mapping, scalability, and types of insights. This section is most important and should take a full page.

Format: 2 pages, 11pt font, single spaced. Attach pictures as additional pages.

What to hand in:

• Hardcopy due in class.