Using information murals in visualization applications

Information visualizations must allow users to browse information spaces and focus quickly on items of interest. Navigational techniques which utilize some representation of the entire information space provide context to support more detailed information views. However, the limited number of pixels on the screen makes it difficult to completely display large information spaces. The Zrz.irrnation Mural is a twodimensional, reduced representation of an entire information space that fits entirely within a display window or screen. The mural creates a miniature version of the information space using visual attributes such as grayscale shading, intensity, color, and pixel size, along with anti-aliased compression techniques. Information murals can be used as stand-alone visualizations or in global navigational views.