Linked Rings Visualization

Process

My mission in this project was to produce prototype "proof of concept" visualizations of data gathered in Hawaii and San Diego. The Hawaii data is public health information about villages on the north coast of the Big Island. Initially this data was not available in enough quantity to work with. As an alternative data source, we began collecting inormation on potential bioloical terrorism targets in San Diego. However, it quickly became obvious that this data was sensistive and could not be shared at conferences, etc., and so some publicly available data was selected with many of the same characteristsics.

For this we chose information about the nutritional content of breakfasts from fast food reatsurants in the "golden triangle," (the region within a mile of the triangle formed bi I-5, I-805 and Cal-52 San Deigo, La Jolla and Del Mar).

We had previoulsy visualized the location of these retaurants as colored spheres against a satellite photo.

fast food restaurants in the golden triangle (degreees and minutes only)
white = Jack in the Box, blue=Burger King, Yellow=Carl's Jr, orange=McDonald's

This was done using the program latlon_to_sphere.

If you notice a grid-like appearance to the spacing, it is becasue the latitude/longitude parser at this point did not yet read seconds, only degrees and minutes, so the grid is on minute boundaries. (In contrast, USGS uses a 7.5 minute grid.)

Our sponsors had shown interest in the torus visualizations we were working on, so it was decided to do this research using mostly the torus primitive.

We had previously used a single torus for each fast food breakfast to show only a total nutritional score.

fast food restaurants in the golden triangle
ring diameter = nutritional score for breakfast

This was done using the programs latlon_to_sphere and vect_to_meshes.

As a representation of nutritional data we chose linked rings, with constant inner radius and the outer radius displaying a quantity.

iLeft to right, the six rings linked with each base ring represent:

• calories
• fat
• cholesterol
• sodium
• carbohydrates
• protein

In this test I laid the base rings directly on the map, and colored them orange for contrast.

linked rings, first test

To get to this point required several tools. The program mkTorus created torus shapes in a variety of file formats, including AVS .polyh (polyhdedron) and .mesh (quad mesh), for the building blocks of the scene.

The program xf (transform) performs geometric transformations on several file formats, including AVS the .polyh and mesh formats. (The abbreviation 'xf' for 'transfrom' dates from analog electronic engineers; my father was trained as one of these in the early 1950s.) Using this program I was able place rings at different locations and with different orientations, based on matrix files, each containing a 4 by 4 matrix.

The program mkMatrix creates the matrix files used by xf. For example, this is a matrix to translate 5 units in the X direction:

        1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
        0.000000 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000
        0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 0.000000
        5.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000

Lastly, to manage the use of these tools together I wrote mkRingsScript, which reads an input file of position and other data, and creates a shell script to invoke the above tools.

For more information about these tools, see the Tools section of this document.

Next, I raised the rings up off of the map amd marked the map points with colored spheres. Again the color of the sphere indicated which fast food restaurant. This gave a good indication of the location being represented. Once again the problem of interference between neighbors was apparent. >>>

sets of linked rings, each on a vector "pole" with a colored sphere as a "base"

15 Feb 2002	rings animated	./rings_anim.gif
16 Feb 2002	color rings	./c0.jpg
16 Feb 2002	color rings animated	./colors.gif
17 Feb 2002	color rings offset to avoid colision	./cc.jpg
17 Feb 2002	full rings	./ccc08.jpg
17 Feb 2002	full rings animated	./full.gif

>>>

Filename	Date	MachineID	SiteName	Latitude/Longitude (Deg Min Sec)	Adult M / Adult F / Child M / Child F / Infant M / Infant F
HI10-B789BBE9.xml	2001.07.29	HI10
HI10-B789BBFB.xml	2001.07.29	HI10	Waipu / Papaa
HI2-B78ACD36.xml	2001.07.30	HI2	Peter	_ _ _ _ _ _
HI2-B78B2249.xml	2001.07.30	HI2
HI2-B78B41B2.xml	2001.07.30	HI2	Peter	_ _ _ _ _ _
HI2-B78B41CF.xml	2001.07.30	HI2
HI2-B7998B7B.xml	2001.08.10	HI2
HI2-B7B07426.xml	2001.08.27	HI2	Peter	_ _ _ _ _ _
HI2-B81BDB11.xml	2001.11.17	HI2
HI4-B789BCB8.xml	2001.07.29	HI4	Paauilo Mak	20 2.350 0 -155 22.086 0	NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL
HI4-B789BCC9.xml	2001.07.29	HI4
HI4-B7A67DA9.xml	2001.08.20	HI4	Paauilo Mak	20 2.350 0 -155 22.086 0	48 55 10 9 2 5
HI4-B7A67E05.xml	2001.08.20	HI4
HI4-B7B014EC.xml	2001.08.27	HI4	Paauilo Mak	20 2.350 0 -155 22.086 0	50 59 12 11 3 5
HI4-B7B0157E.xml	2001.08.27	HI4
HI4-B7C28BFD.xml	2001.09.10	HI4	Paauilo Mak	20 2.350 0 -155 22.086 0	4 .3 NULL NULL 2 NULL
HI4-B7C28D3B.xml	2001.09.10	HI4
HI4-B7DDD988.xml	2001.10.01	HI4
HI4-B7DDDA2D.xml	2001.10.01	HI4	Paauilo Mak	20 2.350 0 -155 22.086 0	3 .3 NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL
HI4-B7EF85C1.xml	2001.10.14	HI4	Paauilo Mak	20 2.350 0 -155 22.086 0	NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL
HI4-B7EF8604.xml	2001.10.14	HI4
HI4-B802FCC9.xml	2001.10.29	HI4
HI4-B802FD5A.xml	2001.10.29	HI4	Paauilo Mak	20 2.350 0 -155 22.086 0	2 2 5 NULL NULL NULL
HI4-B80BF93C.xml	2001.11.05	HI4
HI4-B80BF97B.xml	2001.11.05	HI4	Paauilo Mak	20 2.350 0 -155 22.086 0	NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL
HI4-B875844D.xml	2002.01.24	HI4
HI4-B8758491.xml	2002.01.24	HI4	Paauilo Mak	20 2.350 0 -155 22.086 0	3 1 NULL NULL NULL NULL
HI5-B789BE4A.xml	2001.07.29	HI5	Paauilo LP	20 2.437 0 -155 21.965 0	NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL
HI5-B789BE5A.xml	2001.07.29	HI5
HI5-B7A57DFE.xml	2001.08.19	HI5
HI5-B7A674A3.xml	2001.08.20	HI5	Paauilo LP	20 2.437 0 -155 21.965 0	36 23 10 5 3 NULL
HI5-B7DDDAA9.xml	2001.10.01	HI5
HI5-B7DDDB94.xml	2001.10.01	HI5	Paauilo LP	20 2.437 0 -155 21.965 0	4 5 NULL 3 1 NULL
HI5-B802FB39.xml	2001.10.29	HI5	Paauilo LP	20 2.437 0 -155 21.965 0	NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL
HI5-B802FB83.xml	2001.10.29	HI5
HI5-B80BF6E6.xml	2001.11.05	HI5
HI5-B80BF785.xml	2001.11.05	HI5	Paauilo LP	20 2.437 0 -155 21.965 0	1 2 NULL NULL NULL NULL
HI5-B871BEBE.xml	2002.01.21	HI5
HI5-B871BF05.xml	2002.01.21	HI5	Paauilo LP	20 2.437 0 -155 21.965 0	NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL
HI6-B789BD83.xml	2001.07.29	HI6	Paauhau AP	20 4.237 0 -115 26.635 0	NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL
HI6-B789BD97.xml	2001.07.29	HI6
HI7-B789BDAB.xml	2001.07.29	HI7	Paauhau LP / H	20 4.914 0 -155 26.327 0	NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL NULL
HI7-B789BDBB.xml	2001.07.29	HI7
HI8-B79324C8.xml	2001.08.05	HI8	Ookala	20 0.571 0 -115 16.388 0	24 17 3 7 1 4
HI8-B79326E6.xml	2001.08.05	HI8
HI8-B7A98677.xml	2001.08.22	HI8	Ookala	20 0.571 0 -115 16.388 0	28 23 5 10 1 4
HI8-B7AA68B0.xml	2001.08.23	HI8
HI9-B789B9FA.xml	2001.07.29	HI9
HI9-B789BB77.xml	2001.07.29	HI9	Camp 8	_ _ _ _ _ _	_ _ _ _ _ _
HI9-B7A57D33.xml	2001.08.19	HI9
HI9-B7B014E7.xml	2001.08.27	HI9
HI9-B7EF8510.xml	2001.10.14	HI9

>>>

Filename	Date	MachineID	SiteName	Latitude/Longitude (Deg Min Sec)	Adult M / Adult F / Child M / Child F / Infant M / Infant F
HI4-B7A67DA9.xml	2001.08.20	HI4	Paauilo Mak	20 2.350 0 -155 22.086 0	48 55 10 9 2 5
HI4-B7B014EC.xml	2001.08.27	HI4	Paauilo Mak	20 2.350 0 -155 22.086 0	50 59 12 11 3 5
HI8-B79324C8.xml	2001.08.05	HI8	Ookala	20 0.571 0 -115 16.388 0	24 17 3 7 1 4
HI8-B7A98677.xml	2001.08.22	HI8	Ookala	20 0.571 0 -115 16.388 0	28 23 5 10 1 4

>>>

15 Mar 2002	Hawaii/hawaii00.jpg	Hawaii/hawaii00.jpg
15 Mar 2002	Hawaii/h_anim.gif	Hawaii/h_anim.gif
15 Mar 2002	Hawaii/hh.jpg	Hawaii/hh.jpg

A <B>

• mkTorus.c
• frainbow.c
• mkTorus.h
• Makefile
• Test

mkMatrix usage

abs@littleboy 6 % mkMatrix -u mkMatrix: USAGE: mkMatrix [<flags>] flag meaning default ------------- ---------------------- ------- -D debug FALSE -d angle is in degrees radians -h help on this program -r <axis> <angle> rotate about x,y or z x 0.0 -s <scale factor> scale uniformly -t <x> <y> <z> translate in xyz -u usage (this message)

mkMatrix sample input/output

Test # mkMatrix -r x 45 -d > xrot45.matrix xrot45.matrix 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.707107 0.707107 0.000000 0.000000 -0.707107 0.707107 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000

mkMatrix source code

• mkMatrix.c
• mkMatrix.h
• Makefile
• Test

xf usage

abs@littleboy 5 % xf -u xf: USAGE: xf [<flags>] flag meaning default ------------- ---------------------- ------- -D debug FALSE -t <int> type: 0 = polyh 0 1 = polyhc 2 = mesh -f <filename> name of matrix file test.matrix -h help on this program -o output Java .obj file FALSE -u usage (this message)

xf sample input/output

Test # xf -D -f tranx5.matrix < old.polyh > tranx5.polyh tranx5.matrix 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 0.000000 5.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 old.polyh facet 8 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 -1.0 1.0 -1.0 -1.0 1.0 -1.0 1.0 -1.0 1.0 1.0 -1.0 1.0 -1.0 -1.0 -1.0 -1.0 -1.0 -1.0 1.0 4 1 2 3 4 4 5 6 7 8 4 2 3 7 6 4 1 4 8 5 4 2 1 5 6 4 3 4 8 7 tranx5.polyh facet 8 6.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 -1.0 6.0 -1.0 -1.0 6.0 -1.0 1.0 -4.0 1.0 1.0 -4.0 1.0 -1.0 -4.0 -1.0 -1.0 -4.0 -1.0 1.0 4 1 2 3 4 4 5 6 7 8 4 2 3 7 6 4 1 4 8 5 4 2 1 5 6 4 3 4 8 7

xf source code

• xf.c
• xf.h
• Makefile
• Test

combineGeometry help

abs@littleboy 5 % combineGeometry -h combineGeometry: HELP: combineGeometry - combine two AVS polyh files into one For example, this program combines the following two files into one with the command: combineGeometry < test0.polyh -f test1.polyh > test2.polyh :::::::::::::: test0.polyh :::::::::::::: facet 4 -1.0 -1.0 0.0 -1.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 -1.0 0.0 4 1 2 3 4 :::::::::::::: test1.polyh :::::::::::::: facet 5 -2.0 -2.0 3.0 -2.0 2.0 3.0 2.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 0.0 3.0 2.0 -2.0 3.0 5 1 2 3 4 5 :::::::::::::: test2.polyh :::::::::::::: facet 9 -1.000000 -1.000000 0.000000 -1.000000 1.000000 0.000000 1.000000 1.000000 0.000000 1.000000 -1.000000 0.000000 -2.000000 -2.000000 3.000000 -2.000000 2.000000 3.000000 2.000000 2.000000 3.000000 4.000000 0.000000 3.000000 2.000000 -2.000000 3.000000 4 1 2 3 4 5 5 6 7 8 9

combineGeometry usage

abs@littleboy 5 % combineGeometry -u flag meaning default ------------- ---------------------- ------- -D debug FALSE -f <string> filename for 2nd input input2.polyh -h help on this program -u usage (this message)

combineGeometry source code

• combineGeometry.c
• combineGeometry.h
• Makefile
• Test

mkRingsScript help

abs@littleboy 13 % mkRingsScript -h mkRingsScript: HELP: mkRingsScript - make a shell script to make rings from data This program reads an input file from standard input, of latitutde and longitude plus other data values, and writes out a script to use other programs to create rings of tori representing the data values above the latitude and longitude points. The -n flag passes in the number of locations (one per line in the file) and the -v flag passes in the number of values at each location (one ring per value). You can use -s to pass in a scale factor applied to all the rings. The program can create AVS polyh, polyhc or mesh files controlled by the -t flag. The -m flag indicates that the first line in the data is (after dummy latitude and longitude values) the maximum for each value, and each ring's outer radius is proportional to a value divided by its maximum. If the number of iterations passed in with -i is greater than zero, the prgram tries to spread the rings out so that close locations' rings do not interlock. Because moving some points farther apart imay bring others closer together, a number of iterations may be required to spread them aesthetically. The -d flag allows you to pass in the minimum distance used in this process. For example, this command line: ./mkRingsScript -m -d 0.01 -i 0 -s 0.001 -t 1 -n 6 -v 6 < test.in > te t_script chmod a+x test_script ./test_script with this input: 32 45 0 -117 22 30 0.85 0.39 0.47 0.35 0.75 0.10 32 45 0 -117 22 30 0.55 0.61 0.73 0.25 0.85 0.12 32 45 0 -117 22 30 0.25 0.83 0.99 0.15 0.95 0.14 32 45 0 -117 22 30 0.01 1.05 1.25 0.05 1.05 0.16 32 45 0 -117 22 30 0.01 1.27 1.51 0.01 1.15 0.18 32 45 0 -117 22 30 0.01 1.49 1.77 0.01 1.25 0.20 produsces a script which creates the polyhc files of rings corresponding to the data, where the first six numbers on each line are latitude degrees, minutes and seconds followed by longitude degrees, minutes and seconds. The next six numbers are the values used to create six rings linked to a central seventh at each location. When the type = 1 (polyhc), colors are created. The color depends on a utility function, from 0 = red = bad to 1 = green = good. Semi-arbitrarily the current utility function is a pointy-hat, zero outside the 0 < v < 2, a unit slope up from 0 to 1, and a unit slope down from 1 to 2: | * | * * | * * | * * |* * *****---------***** | The program also secretly creates the file: moved_lines.vect containing vectors which connect each point in the X-Y plane with its moved point where the ring is, above that plane in Z. If the -a flag is used, additional commands to create AVS .geom files are added. If the -c flag is used and the type is 0, additional commands are added to chain .polyh files with the combineGeometry program, and then use xf to create a .obj file which the Java applet ThreeD can read.

mkRingsScript usage

abs@littleboy 13 % mkRingsScript -u mkRingsScript: USAGE: mkRingsScript [flags] < infile > outfile flag meaning default ------------- ---------------------- ------- -D debug FALSE -a AVS geom files needed FALSE -c chain .polyh files FALSE -d distance minimum 0.01 -h help on this program -i <int> number of iterations 0 -m max data line is 1st FALSE in data stream -n <int> number of location 1 -s <float> scale of all tori 1.0 -t <type> 0 = polyh 0 1 = polyhc 2 = mesh -u usage (this message) -z <float> shift tori along Z axis 0.01

mkRingsScript sample input/output

Test # ./mkRingsScript -D -a -m -d 0.01 -i 0 -s 0.001 -t 1 -n 3 -v 2 < test_few.in > test_script chmod a+x test_script echo "---------- running script ----------" ./test_script echo "---------- done with script ----------" test_few.in 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 100 100 32 52.248 0.0 -117 12.590 0.0 20 40 32 54.400 0.0 -117 10.404 0.0 60 80 32 52.716 0.0 -117 9.971 0.0 100 110 test_script # vect_to_geom < moved_lines.vect > moved_lines.geom rm D?.geom D??.geom # rm base_torus*.geom data*.geom mkTorus -d 8 16 -r 0.000200 0.000300 -t 1 -C 0.700000 0.300000 0.000000 > torus. polyhc mkMatrix -t -117.209831 32.870800 0.010000 > trans_latlon.matrix xf -t 1 -f trans_latlon.matrix < torus.polyhc > base_torus0.polyhc polyhc_to_geom < base_torus0.polyhc > base_torus0.geom # mkTorus -d 8 16 -r 0.000200 0.000200 -t 1 -C 0.800000 0.200000 0.000000 > torus. polyhc mkMatrix -r y 90 -d > rotY90.matrix mkMatrix -t 0.0 0.000500 0.0 > transY.matrix mkMatrix -r z -60.000000 -d > rotZPhi.matrix xf -t 1 -f rotY90.matrix < torus.polyhc > temp00.polyhc xf -t 1 -f transY.matrix < temp00.polyhc > temp01.polyhc xf -t 1 -f rotZPhi.matrix < temp01.polyhc > temp02.polyhc xf -t 1 -f trans_latlon.matrix < temp02.polyhc > data0_0.polyhc rm temp*.polyhc polyhc_to_geom < data0_0.polyhc > data0_0.geom * * *

mkRingsScript source code

• mkRingsScript.c
• help.c
• usage.c
• mkRingsScript.h
• Makefile
• Test
• TestC
• test_many.in
• test_few.in

Last update 29-Mar-2001 by ABS.