PI2: End-to-end Interactive Visualization Interface Generation from Queries

TL;DR

PI2 is a system that automatically generates complete, interactive visual analysis interfaces from example sequences of analysis queries, simplifying the creation process for data visualization tools.

Contribution

PI2 introduces a novel approach to generate fully functional visual analysis interfaces directly from query sequences, using a new Difftree structure for systematic variation encoding.

Findings

Generates interfaces in 2-19 seconds with median 6 seconds

Reproduces or improves real-world visual analysis interfaces

Scales linearly with number of queries

Abstract

Interactive visual analysis interfaces are critical in nearly every data task. However, creating new interfaces is deeply challenging, as it requires the developer to understand the queries needed to express the desired analysis task, design the appropriate interface to express those queries for the task, and implement the interface using a combination of visualization, browser, server, and database technologies. Although prior work generates a set of interactive widgets that can express an input query log, this paper presents PI2, the first system to generate fully functional visual analysis interfaces from an example sequence of analysis queries. PI2 analyzes queries syntactically and represents a set of queries using a novel Difftree structure that encodes systematic variations between query abstract syntax trees. PI2 then maps each Difftree to a visualization that renders its results, the variations in each Difftree to interactions, and generates a good layout for the interface. We show that PI2 can express data-oriented interactions in existing visualization interaction taxonomies, reproduce or improve several real-world visual analysis interfaces, generate interfaces in 2-19s (median 6s), and scale linearly with the number of queries.