Graphical Components and Mapping Strategies

This section discusses:

• Graphical components i.e. individual components of graphs

• Mapping strategies i.e. mapping between data and graphics

It is important to know about graphical components and mapping strategies because it helps to:

• evaluate visualizations: with an in-depth understanding of the above, we will be able to criticise design choices

• re-design evaluations

Visual Encoding refers to the strategies/rules used to turn data into graphical representations. More precisely, it refers to the mapping between:

• data items $\leftarrow\rightarrow$ visual marks

• data attributes $\leftarrow\rightarrow$ visual channels