Interactive visual analysis has been a key component of gaining insights in information visualization area. However, the amount of data has increased exponentially in the past few years. Existing information visualization techniques lack scalability to deal with big data, such as graphs with millions of nodes, or millions of multidimensional data records.
North C. Information Visualization. In: Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics. 3rd Editionrd ed. Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics. New York; 2005. p. pg. 1222-1246.