Graphical Surface Rendering Data Visualization Tools and Primitives for Tabular Data and Spreadsheets
Graphical tools and primitives are provided for visualization of graphical surfaces from tabular data such as in a spreadsheet. The invention can be used for simple business analysis as well as advanced engineering and science. Visualizations of a two-dimensional surface is rendered from provided data according to position, orientation, and viewpoint, some or all of which can be controlled by a user interface. The surface can also represent interactively controlled filtered or stochastically processed tabular data. The visualization can be displayed together with the display an electronic spreadsheet or other tabular data representation. The surface can suspended over a region of the displayed tabular data or displayed in other ways. The visually rendered surfaces can comprise symbols, colors, textures, or glyphs representing data, and virtual illumination. The surface can be suspended over a region of displayed tabular data. Visual height measuring and level sets slicing tools can be provided.
1 . A method for visualizing tabular data of an electronic spreadsheet, the method comprising:
obtaining a plurality of data values from tabular data, the tabular data comprising data values organized as an array;
rendering a visualization of a two-dimensional surface, the visualization computed from the plurality of data values from tabular data, the rendering further computed from position data, orientation data, and viewpoint data;
wherein the visualization of the two-dimensional surface is rendered in a visual display area.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the position data is provided from a user interface.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the orientation data is provided from a user interface.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the viewpoint data is provided from a user interface.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: rendering the visualization of the two-dimensional surface concurrently to displaying the tabular data of the electronic spreadsheet.
6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising: displaying the tabular data of the electronic spreadsheet is rendered within the visual display area.
7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising: rendering the visualization suspended over a region of the displayed tabular data within the visual display area.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the visualization is a 3-dimensional visualization.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the rendered visualization further comprises a color, the color representing a value responsive to the tabular data.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the rendered visualization further comprises a parameterized locally varying texture, the texture representing a value responsive to the tabular data.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the rendered visualization is supplemented with at least one symbol rendered on the surface, the symbol representing a value responsive to the tabular data.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the rendered visualization is supplemented with at least one parameterized glyph rendered on the surface, the parameterized glyph representing a value responsive to the tabular data.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the rendered visualization is virtually illuminated by at least one virtual light source.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein an attribute of the virtual light source can be controlled by a user interface.
15 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: rendering a visual height measuring tool in the visualization.
16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: a slicing function to provide level set data from the two-dimensional surface.
17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the two-dimensional surface represents filtered versions of the tabular data.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the filtering is controlled by an interactive parameter.
19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the two-dimensional surface represents statistically processed of the tabular data.