Investigating Crossing Perception in 3D Graph Visualisation

TL;DR

This paper investigates how perceived crossings in 3D graph visualizations affect readability, focusing on the influence of spatial configurations, depth, and edge orientation through an empirical study.

Contribution

It introduces an empirical analysis of crossing perception in 3D graph visualizations, considering factors like depth and edge orientation, which are less studied compared to 2D crossings.

Findings

Certain 3D edge configurations are perceived as crossings despite not being actual crossings.

Depth and relative edge direction significantly influence crossing perception in 3D visualizations.

Perception of crossings varies with viewpoint and spatial arrangement in 3D graphs.

Abstract

Human perception of graph drawings is influenced by a variety of impact factors for which quality measures are used as a proxy indicator. The investigation of those impact factors and their effects is important to evaluate and improve quality measures and drawing algorithms. The number of edge crossings in a 2D graph drawing has long been a main quality measure for drawing evaluation. The use of stereoscopic 3D graph visualisations has gained attraction over the last years, and results from several studies indicate that they can improve analysis efficiency for a range of analysis scenarios. While edge crossings can also occur in 3D, there are edge configurations in space that are not crossings but might be perceived as such from a specific viewpoint. Such configurations create crossings when projected on the corresponding 2D image plane and could impact readability similar to 2D crossings. In 3D drawings, the additional depth aspect and the subsequent impact factors of edge distance and relative edge direction in space might further influence the importance of those configurations for readability. We investigate the impact of such factors in an empirical study and report on findings of difference between major factor categories.