Eye-tracking detection of the area of interest in data visualization

Abstract

This study examines the features of forming in data visualization. To do this, the authors hypothesize that there are special areas of interest on the charts. The user pays attention to them in order to decode data encrypted with graphics. The presence of such areas, and in some cases, points, are intuitively determined during the formation of the design rules of information graphics. To verify them, the study used the eye-tracking method and the cluster analysis method. The application of interdisciplinary principles and rules of infographics design has been studied on the example of horizontal and vertical bar charts, pie, pictorial and flow charts. The result of experiments with various types of charts showed the presence of additional areas of interest not previously indicated by data visualization specialists. This makes it possible to clarify the features of graphic forms and the formation of diagrams, allows you to verify the use of design rules formulated by the efforts of domestic and foreign specialists in the late XIX — early XX centuries. Such verification can be done using a methodology that includes statistical methods and the tracking method, which allows us to take into account the valuable experience of the past in modern information design. The presented procedure can be extended to other types of charts, diagrams and thematic maps, and have practical application in the analysis of big data visualization.