Contents

Visual Data mining .................................................................................................................................. 1

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1
Benefits of information visualisation .................................................................................................. 1
Current Status of Information Visualisation in Data Mining ............................................................ 2
Information Visualisation Techniques ................................................................................................................ 2
Information Visualisation Trends ......................................................................................................................... 3
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................................... 4
References: ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5

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Visual Data mining

Introduction

The advancement in computer and network technology has resulted in a very large amount
of data being generated and stored in digital format. Many parameters are used to record
this data resulting in multi-dimensional records. This data is collected because it is believed
that there is some value in the information that can be gotten from it. However, getting the
hidden information from this data is a hard undertaking. If a satisfactory exploration of this
data is not possible, then it will become useless to collect it since the useful information in it
cannot be retrieved [1] [2].
The above reason make data mining very important since it is the process that is used to
get useful information from a very large amount of data by determining important
relationships between them in order to support better decision making or coming up with
new ideas [2] [3]. However, the analysis and understanding of the results obtained from
data mining process is a challenging task. Therefore, it is important to place the data mining
results in visual context for better understanding of its importance in the analysis standpoint
[3].
This paper will review a number of online articles in relation to the relevance of
information visualisation in data mining as well as some useful visualisation techniques
that can be used in this regard.

Benefits of information visualisation

Visualisation of data can help analysts to come up with new premise or hypothesis. In
addition, non–standardized and strident data can be easily dealt with by the exploration of
visualised information. Furthermore, the analysis of visualised information does not require
high level of statistics or mathematics knowledge. Therefore, the analysis of visual
information allows quick data analysis, better outcome and increase efficiency.

The visual representation of the data will allow the user to get a quick and clear
understanding of the results and therefore, be able to come up with a useful conclusion
while interacting with the system.

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Current Status of Information Visualisation in Data Mining

The article by Daniel Keim [4] describes Data mining as an automatic computer focused
process which has been designed to perform and generate results automatically with
minimal or without user interaction. The exclusion of human interaction in the data mining
process is not always practicable [5] [6]. Hence, for data mining effectiveness, it is
important for human to be included in the Data mining process and the analysis of data.
Consequently, Data mining procedures and the data miner should be able to interact and
the application of visualisation in the process will enable the user to comprehend the mining
patterns and not just the mining discovery engine [6] [2]. However, this tool should not be
expert analyst focused only but it should be able to support a wide range of data miners
from various upbringings [7].

The article by Nigel Robinson and Mary Shapcott [5]has emphasised that at this time,
many Data mining product vendors have acknowledged the relevance of information
visualisation and have added it as one of the topographies in their products. However, they
only offer conservative 2D graphical representation facilities or the 3D version of their
conventional 2D [8]. Some software programs come with interactive exploration and 3D
visualisation entrenched in the traditional tools of Windows graphical user interface style,
such as buttons, scrolling bars etc. It should be noted that at the moment visualisation in
Data mining is employed at the end of the process to present the results. This has been
presented as the failure of the traditional Data mining programs as it has been suggested
that visualisation should go further than the way it is used at the moment by employing it in
the Data mining process [5]

Information Visualisation Techniques

Robelo, Franco and Pacheco [2]have emphasised that the aim of information
visualisation techniques is the graphical representation of a certain application domain
so as to analyse with greater performance the information of the domain and the user
mental ability, making it possible to comprehend and interpret the information in quest
for innovative indicators and Knowledge.
Keim and Kriegel [3] as cited in Robelo, Franco and Pacheco [2] have described multi-

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dimensional methods of information visualisation by way of grouping then by geometric
categorisation, ranked/hierarchical, icon based and pixel oriented techniques.

The geometric projection techniques produces 2D and 3D prognostications with the aim
of disclosing the needed information. These techniques include: 3D scatter-plot, Data
scattering-matrix as well as parallel-coordinate [6].

Iconographic techniques work on objects in geometric forms that can be linked to the
database attributes. This technique uses icons to illustrate the main features of the
information domain.

The pixel oriented method aims to present the attribute’ values in different windows by
linking every information value to a pixel [4] [9].
Icon based and geometric methods are said to be suitable for prognostication of the
outcome of clustering method. [3] [4]

Information Visualisation Trends

Advancement in computer-technology is having tremendous influence on how data is

collected, the types of data collected, how it is kept/stored and more importantly how it
can be quickly processed and dealt with. Most of this data is collected for free by
enterprises over the internet. Many companies utilise and analyse this amorphous
(structured and unstructured) data gathered from different online collaboration/
interaction indicators using advanced information visualisation programs with better
graphics and interactivities [5].

There are a number of factors influencing the information visualisation change. These
factors can be connected to a number of trends in information/ data visualisation
namely: mobility, geolocation, and data mashups.
Therefore, it is expected to see a continuing growth in data discovery and exploration
tools. Users are expecting to have access to data discovery and visualisation on their
mobile devices as well as interacting with these programs and conduct more study on
the way users like to analyse discover and visualise information [9].

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Analyst and decision makers would like data to be able to tell them a story in order to
for them to make decision. So it is expected to see visualisation tools to support such
procedure to the extent of having video capabilities [9].

Conclusion

The rapid advancement of modern technology and computer networking in particular

has resulted in an overflow of data that has proved to contain useful information. Data
mining has been used to extract this important information from this large amount of
data. Visualisation has been used in data mining as the last stage where the results from
the mining process is presented to the user in form of graphics. However, this has been
proven not very effective in producing quick and accurate information to influence
decision making because of the need for quick data processing able to deal with the data
overflow and the need of quick decision making based on the gotten results. Thus,
Visualisation, and user cantered data mining tools should be adopted. Human
interaction during the data mining process has proven to be vital in order to reach to a
quick understanding of the data, more accurate information and therefore better
decision making.

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References:

[1] Christin Seifert ,Elisabeth Lex, “A Novel Visualization Approach for Data-Mining-Related
Classification,” in 13th International Conference Information Visualisation, 2009.

[2] Emerson Rabelo, Maria Dias, Clélia Franco,Roberto C. S. Pacheco, “Information Visualization:
Which the most Appropriate Technique to Represent Data Mining Results?,” in CIMCA,
IAWTIC,ISE, 2008.

[3] D. A. Keim, “Information Visualization and Visual Data Mining,” IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
VISUALIZATION AND COMPUTER GRAPHICS, vol. 8, no. 01, 2002.

[4] Daniel A. Keim and Hans-Peter Kriegel, “Visualization Techniques for Mining Large Databases: A
Comparison,” IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON KNOWLEDGE AND DATA ENGINEERING, vol. 8, no. 6, pp.
923-938, 1996.

[5] Nigel Robinson,Mary Shapcott, “Data Mining Information Visualisation –Beyond Charts and
Graphs,” in Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Information Visualisation.

[6] F. S. i. Gharehchopogh, “Approach and Review of User Oriented Interactive Data Mining,” 2010.

[7] Daniel A. Keim, Florian Mansmann, J¨orn Schneidewind, Hartmut Ziegler, “Challenges in Visual
Data Analysis,” in Challenges in Visual Data Analysis, Proceedings of the Information
Visualization, 2006.

[8] Chenchen, “Research On the Visualization Of Data Mining Results,” in The 6th International
Conference on Computer Science & Education, SuperStar Virgo, Singapore.

[9] S. Share, “Data Visualization - HorizonWatch 2015 Trend Report,” IBM Corporation IBM Market
Development & Insights, 2015. [Online]. Available:
http://www.slideshare.net/HorizonWatching/data-visualization-horizon-watch-2015-trend-
report-client-version-28jan2015. [Accessed April 2015].

[10] Hailiang Jin, Huijie Liu,Hailiang Jin, “Research on Visualization Techniques in Data Mining,” 2010.

[11] F. S. Gharehchopogh, “Approach and Review of User Oriented Interactive Data Mining,” IEEE,
2010.

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