A phrase-driven grammar system for interactive data visualization

Abstract

A Phrase-Driven Grammar System (PDGS) is a novel GUI for facilitating the visualization of data. The PDGS integrates data source applications and external visualization tools into its framework and functions as a middle-layer application to coordinate their operations. It allows users to formulate data query and visualization descriptions by selecting graphical icons in a menu or on a map. To specify data query and visualization intuitively and efficiently, we designed Graphical User Interface and a natural-language-like grammar, Phrase-Driven Grammar (PDG). The formulation of PDG data query and visualization descriptions is a constrained natural-language phrase building process. PDG phrases produce graphical visualizations of the data query, allowing users to interactively explore meaningful data relationships, trends, and exceptions.