We have designed a system for presenting and graphically navigating four-variable data in a four-dimensional Cartesian environment. With full translational and rotational freedom, the system provides a 4D scene that can be explored and understood interactively. The system presents a four-dimensional environment to the user as a collection of 3D slices. Volunteers explored and solved randomly-generated 4D mazes of increasing complexity and size by traversing them to the end. Their ability to solve mazes improved significantly with practice, reflecting an increasing ability to engage the 4D environment and demonstrating the viability of the system.

Date Published: 20 January 2009
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 7243, Visualization and Data Analysis 2009, 72430E (20 January 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.812381

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7243:
Visualization and Data Analysis 2009
Katy Börner; Jinah Park, Editor(s)