Should I make it round? Suitability of circular and linear layouts for comparative tasks with matrix and connective data

• Published in: Computer graphics forum Vol. 43; no. 3
• Main Authors: Ståhlbom, E., Molin, J., Ynnerman, A., Lundström, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2024
• Subjects: Applied computing → Genomics; Bioinformatics; Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): H.5.2 [Information interfaces and presentation]: User interfaces—Evaluation/Methodology; CCS Concepts; Genomics; Graphs; Human‐centered computing → Empirical studies in visualization; Layouts; Rapid prototyping; Spokes; Visual analytics; Visualization; Visualization toolkits
• ISSN: 0167-7055; 1467-8659; 1467-8659
• DOI: 10.1111/cgf.15102

Visual representations based on circular shapes are frequently used in visualization applications. One example are circos plots within bioinformatics, which bend graphs into a wheel of information with connective lines running through the center like spokes. The results are aesthetically appealing and impressive visualizations that fit long data sequences into a small quadratic space. However, the authors' experiences are that when asked, a visualization researcher would generally advise against making visualizations with radial layouts. Upon reviewing the literature we found that there is evidence that circular layouts are preferable in some cases, but we found no clear evidence for what layout is preferable for matrices and connective data in particular, which both are common data types in circos plots. In this work, we thus performed a user study to compare circular and linear layouts. The tasks are inspired by genomics data, but our results generalize to many other application areas, involving comparison and connective data. To build the prototype we utilized Gosling, a grammar for visualizing genomics data. We contribute empirical evidence on the suitedness of linear versus circular layouts, adding to the specific and general knowledge concerning perception of circular graphs. In addition, we contribute a case study evaluation of the grammar Gosling as a rapid prototyping language, confirming its utility and providing guidance on suitable areas for future development.