This web page outlines a full day tutorial offered at VL/HCC 2009. The automated generation and layout of diagrams is key to the usability of visual languages. The techniques explained in this tutorial enable the automated generation and layout of diagrams, as well as the enhancement of the layout of manually drawn diagrams. The first part of the tutorial overviews application areas and the state-of-the-art in graph drawing and Euler diagram drawing, two of the most common diagrammatic formalisms for visual languages. Software will be used to demonstrate many of the layout methods. The second part looks at layout in practice, which draws on many of the concepts introduced in the first part and is again supported by diagram layout software. We assume a total of seven hours contact time, segmented by appropriate rest breaks. Tutees will be required to bring laptops with Java 1.6 installed, the layout software will be provided at the tutorial. Download Java here. The following is an outline of the tutorial content. 1. Morning: Application Areas and the State-of-the-Art in Diagram Layout Techniques9:00 - 9:15: Introduction9:15 - 9:45: 1.1. Application AreasSection 1.1 Slides
9:45 - 10:30: 1.2. Graph Drawing TechniquesSection 1.2 Slides
10:30 - 11:00: Coffee Break11:00 - 11:30: 1.3. Introducing Euler DiagramsSection 1.3 Slides
11:30 - 12:00: 1.4. Euler Diagram Layout TechniquesSection 1.4 Slides
12:00 - 12:30: 1.5. Diagram Layout in ApplicationsSection 1.5 Slides
12:30 - 14:00: Lunch2. Afternoon: Layout in PracticeIn the second part we take a step-by-step approach to the generation of general Euler diagrams (figures 4 and 5). Examples and exercises will be based on software that implements the method described. The demonstrated approach combines the methods discussed in 1.4 and relies on the practical application some of the techniques given in 1.2. The generation process breaks down into these steps. 14:00 - 15:30: 2.1. Finding the Dual GraphSection 2.1 Slides
15:30 - 16:00: Coffee Break16:00 - 17:30: 2.2. Embedding the DiagramSection 2.2 Slides
Software for the tutorial:The OrganizersProf. John Howse is Professor of Mathematics and Computation at the University of Brighton, UK, where he is leader of the Visual Modelling Research Group. His main research interests are diagrammatic reasoning, the development of visual modelling languages and automated diagram drawing. He is on the program committee for several international conferences, was General Chair of Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing 2006, is on the steering committee for the Diagrams conference series and was Program Chair for Diagrams 2008. He received the Best Paper Award at Diagrams 2002, as co-author of the first paper on automated Euler diagram drawing. He is the Principal Investigator on the Visualization with Euler Diagrams project, at the Brighton site, which is developing advanced techniques to automate the Euler diagram drawing process. Dr. Peter Rodgers is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Kent, UK. He has been teaching graph algorithms and diagram drawing at undergraduate and postgraduate level for over ten years. He has been an author on over 30 peer reviewed publications in diagram visualization and algorithms. These papers include descriptions of work on extending force directed layout and improving the performance of graph layout algorithms. They also detail his research in Euler diagram visualization, such as the first aesthetics based visualization method for Euler diagrams, and producing the first empirical study on the usability of Euler diagrams. He chaired the first Euler diagrams workshop in 2004 and is the Principal Investigator on Visualization with Euler Diagrams at the Kent site. Dr. Gem Stapleton is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Brighton, UK. She has been teaching undergraduate level mathematics and computing subjects since 2001, including relevant topics such as graph theory and diagrammatic reasoning. Her research interests encompass diagrammatic logics, with an emphasis on those based on Euler diagrams. Dr Stapleton???s research on automated theorem proving is a particular application area where automated diagram layout is necessary. She has over 30 peer reviewed publications in the visual languages area and has received various awards for her research. She served on various Program Committees in the area of visual languages, was General Chair of Diagrams 2008 and is a Co-Investigator on Visualization with Euler Diagrams. |
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Figure 1. A diagram showing a software system schema |
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Figure 2. An Euler diagram |
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Figure 3. Force directed layout |
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Figure 4. Planar dual created when embedding an Euler diagram |
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Figure 5. Euler diagram embedded from the above planar dual |