Automated treemap configuration

• US 8,866,815 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2007
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Helfman, Jonathan, Goldberg, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, M Good
• Application Number:
  US11/752,915
• Publication Number:
  US 20080295038A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,708 Days
• Field of Search: 345/440, 715/853
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/322 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

Systems and methods in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention provide for representing a plurality of source data values as graphical elements in a default treemap visualization, where each data value is associated with a plurality of data dimensions. A first data dimension is selected to be mapped to an area cell characteristic based on the first data dimension having a quality of numeric and a quality of non-negative. A second data dimension is selected to be mapped to a color cell characteristic based on the second data dimension having a quality of numeric and a quality of previously unmapped. The default treemap visualization is generated based on the selected first data dimension and the selected second data dimension.

Claims

1. A method for representing a plurality of source data values as graphical elements in a treemap visualization, comprising:

determining, with one or more processors associated with one or more computer systems, a plurality of candidate data dimensions from a plurality of data dimensions for one or more depth levels of the treemap visualization, wherein the treemap visualization comprises a predefined number of hierarchical depth levels, each hierarchical depth level of the predefined number of hierarchical depth levels representing a data dimension associated with one or more data values, and wherein the plurality of candidate data dimensions are only a portion of the plurality of data dimensions;

generating a hierarchy of the treemap visualization by selecting, with one or more processors associated with one or more computer systems, a first candidate data dimension from the determined plurality of candidate data dimensions for the one or more depth levels;

determining, with one or more processors associated with one or more computer systems, a plurality of area-mapping candidate data dimensions for the treemap visualization from the plurality of data dimensions;

selecting, prior to generating the treemap visualization, a first area-mapping candidate data dimension of the plurality of area-mapping candidate data dimensions to map to an area cell characteristic of the treemap visualization based at least in part on identifying a data value associated with the first area-mapping candidate data dimension having a quality of numeric and a quality of non-negative, the area cell characteristic representing a data value of an area cell in the treemap visualization corresponding to the data value associated with the first area-mapping candidate data dimension;

determining, with one or more processors associated with one or more computer systems, a plurality of color-mapping candidate data dimensions for the treemap visualization from the plurality of data dimensions;

selecting, prior to generating the treemap visualization, a first color-mapping candidate data dimension of the plurality of color-mapping candidate data dimensions to map to a color cell characteristic of the treemap visualization based at least in part on identifying a data value associated with the first color-mapping candidate data dimension having a quality of numeric and a quality of previously unmapped as an area-mapping candidate, the color cell characteristic representing a data value of a color cell in the treemap visualization corresponding to the data value associated with the first color-mapping candidate data dimension;

generating, with one or more processors associated with one or more computer systems, the treemap visualization based on the selected first candidate data dimensions, the selected first area-mapping candidate data dimension, and the selected first color-mapping candidate data dimension;

receiving, at one or more computer systems, information provided by a user of the treemap visualization selecting a second candidate data dimension from the plurality of candidate data dimensions for a particular depth level of the treemap visualization; and

modifying the treemap visualization based on the selected second candidate data dimension.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the first area-mapping candidate data dimension is based on metadata indicating the one or more of the plurality of data dimensions are candidates to be mapped to the area cell characteristic.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the first candidate data dimension for the one or more depth levels comprises reading a hierarchy table comprising one or more data dimensions of the plurality of data dimensions and a corresponding depth level for each of the one or more data dimensions.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, in the hierarchy table, a data dimension of the one or more data dimensions corresponds to the one or more depth levels of the treemap visualization.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

generating a hierarchy pivot interface associated with the treemap visualization, the hierarchy pivot interface including selectable fields configured to enable a user of the hierarchy pivot interface to modify the selected first candidate data dimension for the one or more depth levels of the treemap visualization, wherein each field is a data dimension of the one or more data dimensions comprising the hierarchy table.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

generating the hierarchy pivot interface for each depth level.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a color gradient to represent a magnitude of the source data values corresponding to the selected first color-mapping candidate data dimension.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

generating a graphical user interface including selectable fields configured to enable a user of the graphical user interface to modify the color gradient.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a graphical user interface including selectable fields configured to enable a user of the graphical user interface to modify the first data dimension mapping to the area cell characteristic, wherein each field is an area-mapping candidate data dimension of the plurality of area-mapping candidate data dimensions to map to the area cell characteristic.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a graphical user interface including selectable fields configured to enable a user of the graphical user interface to modify the first color-mapping candidate data dimension mapping to the color cell characteristic, wherein each field is a color-mapping candidate data dimension of the plurality of color-mapping candidate data dimensions to map to the color cell characteristic.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a graphical user interface including a selectable field representing a categorical collection of data of one or more non-hierarchical data dimensions of the plurality of data dimensions.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the graphical user interface enables a user to modify the treemap visualization to include a graphical element in each cell of the treemap visualization that corresponds to the categorical collection.

13. A data visualization method for representing a plurality of hierarchical source data values comprising:

determining, with one or more processors associated with one or more computer systems, a plurality of candidate data dimensions from a plurality of data dimensions for one or more depth levels of a treemap visualization, wherein the treemap visualization comprises a predefined number of hierarchical depth levels, each hierarchical depth level of the predefined number of hierarchical depth levels representing a data dimension associated with one or more data values;

determining, a hierarchy for the source data values independent from the source data values based on reading a hierarchy table stored independently from the source data values,

wherein the hierarchy table comprises a plurality of candidate data dimensions of the plurality of data dimensions corresponding to the one or more depth levels, and

wherein the plurality of candidate data dimensions are only a portion of the plurality of data dimensions;

selecting, prior to generating the treemap visualization, a first candidate data dimension of the plurality of candidate data dimensions to map to a cell characteristic of the treemap visualization based at least in part on identifying a data value associated with the first candidate data dimension having a quality of numeric and a quality of non-negative, the cell characteristic representing a data value of a cell in the treemap visualization corresponding to the data value associated with the first candidate data dimension; and

generating the treemap visualization based at least in part on the hierarchy and the selected candidate data dimension.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program product for representing a plurality of source data values as graphical elements in a treemap visualization, comprising:

code for determining a plurality of candidate data dimensions from a plurality of data dimensions for one or more depth levels of the treemap visualization, wherein the treemap visualization comprises a predefined number of hierarchical depth levels, each hierarchical depth level of the predefined number of hierarchical depth levels representing a data dimension associated with one or more data values, and wherein the plurality of candidate data dimensions are only a portion of the plurality of data dimensions;

code for generating a hierarchy of the treemap visualization by selecting a first candidate data dimension from the determined plurality of candidate data dimensions for the one or more depth levels;

code for determining a plurality of area-mapping candidate data dimensions for the treemap visualization from the plurality of data dimensions;

code for selecting, prior to generating the treemap visualization, a first area-mapping candidate data dimension of the plurality of area-mapping candidate data dimensions to map to an area cell characteristic of the treemap visualization based at least in part on identifying a data value associated with the first area-mapping candidate data dimension having a quality of numeric and a quality of non-negative, the area cell characteristic representing a data value of an area cell in the treemap visualization corresponding to the data value associated with the first area-mapping candidate data dimension;

code for determining a plurality of color-mapping candidate data dimensions for the treemap visualization from the plurality of data dimensions;

code for selecting, prior to generating the treemap visualization, a first color-mapping candidate data dimension of the plurality of color-mapping candidate data dimensions to map to a color cell characteristic of the treemap visualization based at least in part on identifying a data value associated with the first color-mapping candidate data dimension having a quality of numeric and a quality of previously unmapped as an area-mapping candidate, the color cell characteristic representing a data value of a color cell in the treemap visualization corresponding to the data value associated with the first color-mapping candidate data dimension;

code for generating the treemap visualization based on the selected first candidate dimensions, the selected first area-mapping candidate data dimension, and the selected first color-mapping candidate data dimension;

code for receiving information provided by a user of the treemap visualization selecting a second candidate data dimension from the plurality of candidate data dimensions for a particular depth level of the treemap visualization; and

code for modifying the treemap visualization based on the selected second candidate data dimension.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program product according to claim 14, wherein selecting the first area-mapping candidate data dimension is based on metadata indicating the one or more of the plurality of data dimensions are candidates to be mapped to the area cell characteristic.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program product according to claim 14, wherein selecting the first candidate data dimension for the one or more depth levels comprises reading a hierarchy table comprising one or more data dimensions of the plurality of data dimensions and a corresponding depth level for each of the one or more data dimensions.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program product according to claim 14, wherein, in the hierarchy table, a data dimension of the one or more data dimensions corresponds to the one or more depth levels of the treemap visualization.

18. A system for representing a plurality of source data values as graphical elements in a treemap visualization, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory configured to store a plurality of code modules which when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

determine a plurality of candidate data dimensions from a plurality of data dimensions for one or more depth levels of the treemap visualization, wherein the treemap visualization comprises a predefined number of hierarchical depth levels, each hierarchical depth level of the predefined number of hierarchical depth levels representing a data dimension associated with one or more data values, and wherein the plurality of candidate data dimensions are only a portion of the plurality of data dimensions;

generate a hierarchy of the treemap visualization by selecting a first candidate data dimension from the determined plurality of candidate data dimensions for the one or more depth levels;

determine a plurality of area-mapping candidate data dimensions for the treemap visualization from the plurality of data dimensions;

select, prior to generating the treemap visualization, a first area-mapping candidate data dimension of the plurality of area-mapping candidate data dimensions to map to an area cell characteristic of the treemap visualization based at least in part on identifying a data value associated with the first area-mapping candidate data dimension having a quality of numeric and a quality of non-negative, the area cell characteristic representing a data value of an area cell in the treemap visualization corresponding to the data value associated with the first area-mapping candidate data dimension;

determine a plurality of color-mapping candidate data dimensions for the treemap visualization from the plurality of data dimensions;

select, prior to generating the treemap visualization, a first color-mapping candidate data dimension of the plurality of color-mapping candidate data dimensions to map to a color cell characteristic of the treemap visualization based at least in part on identifying a data value associated with the first color-mapping candidate data dimension having a quality of numeric and a quality of previously unmapped as an area-mapping candidate, the color cell characteristic representing a data value of a color cell in the treemap visualization corresponding to the data value associated with the first color-mapping candidate data dimension;

generate the treemap visualization based on the selected first candidate data dimensions, the selected first area-mapping candidate data dimension, and the selected first color-mapping candidate data dimension;

receive information provided by a user of the treemap visualization selecting a second candidate data dimension from the plurality of candidate data dimensions for a particular depth level of the default treemap visualization; and

modify the treemap visualization based on the selected second candidate data dimension.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is caused to select the first area-mapping candidate data dimension based on metadata indicating the one or more of the plurality of data dimensions are candidates to be mapped to the area cell characteristic.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is caused to:

select the first candidate data dimension for the one or more depth levels by reading a hierarchy table comprising one or more data dimensions of the plurality of data dimensions and a corresponding depth level for each of the one or more data dimensions.