Foreword
Visualization, as a discipline in computer science, is a rather young field of study. Thefield has made many advances over the past 25 years through tremendous basic andapplication-driven research efforts, and also successfully transferred some of theseadvances into products and services for data-intensive applications. Visualization asa problem-solving and knowledge discovery tool has become even more important aswe enter the Big Data era. Its applications grow from scientific computing, engineeringdesign, biomedicine, cyber security, and intelligence, to social science, transportationstudies, and commerce. Visualization will be considered a basic skill, and will likelybecome part of the standard curriculum in science and engineering.
There is clearly a fast-growing interest in visualization as a discipline, a technology, or apractice. Over the years, I have been asked by many to suggest readings in visualization.So far, no book has ever managed to provide a comprehensive overview of the field,since even the good ones focus on a subarea of visualization, typically reflecting theauthor’s research endeavors. A visualization textbook is definitely needed. I know a fewother book projects are underway, but this book is by far the most comprehensive one Ihave seen. It provides a fairly complete introduction to essential topics in visualization,as well as information on where the field is today, effectively serving the needs of bothpractitioners and future researchers in the field. As the field evolves rapidly to copewith demands from new applications and exploiting Big Data, I believe the authors willupdate the content regularly to reflect the latest and greatest developments in the field,which will make this book a lasting, valuable resource.
While visualization has become an active area of study and practice in the United Statesand Europe, visualization research and education in Asia would benefit from increasedpromotion and development. Thus, the publication of this textbook is timely. I praise thededicated effort of Professor Wei Chen and his co-authors in creating this book, whichwill help accelerate visualization education, research, and practice in China and otherChinese-speaking countries. I hope to see this book translated into other languages. Itwill then become an important reference in the field of visualization. I found the bookvery informative and easy to read. I believe you will enjoy reading it.
Kwan-Liu Ma
Davis, CA
September 20, 2013
序言
浙江大学计算机辅助设计与图形学(CAD&CG)国家重点实验室陈为教授来电话,请我为他的新作《数据可视化》作序。陈为教授是我的老同事,也是我们实验室可视化方向的带头人。现在他有新作出版,请我作序是对我的尊重,我哪有不懂之理。然而我犹豫了。我坦率地告诉他,我怕完不成任务,因为我已退休多年,不再跟踪学科前沿多年。陈为说,他把书稿链接发给我,请我浏览以后再做定夺。我在浏览了《数据可视化》的内容简介、前言、目录和第1 章后,深感全书内容十分丰富,架构严谨,是我国学界和业界急需的一本好书。陈教授在信里还写道:“可否请您从可视化在中国的发展历史、现状、未来为这本书写一个序言,作为对我们的鼓励。”读信后,我感到我写不出现状和未来,写点我经历过的事情,以及谈点作为过来人的体会和建议还是可以的,同时我感到作为可视化领域的一名老兵,面对《数据可视化》这样一本可视化新作、好书,又有爱不释手和责无旁贷之感,当即决定试试。
“可视化”或它的全称“科学计算可视化”(Visualization in Scientific Computing,ViSC)一词是在1987 年根据美国国家科学基金会召开的“科学计算可视化研讨会”内容撰写的一份报告中正式提出的。在短短20 余年历史中,科学计算可视化发展成为一个十分活跃的研究领域,新的研究分支不断涌现,如出现了用于表示海量数据不同类型及其逻辑关系的信息可视化技术,以及将可视化与分析相结合的可视分析学研究方向。现在又有了把“科学计算可视化”、“信息可视化”和“可视分析学”这三个分支整合在一起的新学科“数据可视化”。这是可视化研究领域的新起点,必将进一步促进学科交叉与融合,进一步扩大应用领域的发展,进一步提高应用水平。可以预期,这波数据可视化研究新浪潮必将推动可视化学科研究和应用向更宽、更深、更高的方向发展。事实上,这既是学界和业界的责任,也是广大用户的期待,因为现有的可视化技术还远远满足不了用户的期望。我举一个亲身体验来说明我的这个论断。去年8 月我的小孙女出生,面对可爱的小脸,脑海里不由得回忆起3 个月前看到儿子发来的那张胎儿超声波三维影像时留下的印象:紧闭的双目,高额头和大鼻子。今天小天使虽然依然双目紧闭,依然是高额头,但鼻子一点也不大,反而显得小巧、可爱,加上时张时合的小嘴,这张真实的小脸与那张高科技三维图像相比不知要漂亮多少倍。这个事实说明,今天的超声波三维成像技术离用户期望水平还相去甚远。我们全家在感谢今天科技进步让我们提前3 个月看到了小孙女真容的同时,也期望科学家们早日提供逼真的胎儿三维影像。
应该说,我们国家可视化方向的研究工作起步还是比较早的。国家自然科学基金委将科学计算可视化列为“八五”重点资助项目,国家科委也将其列为基础研究专门项目给予资助。国内一批图形学研究中心,如浙江大学计算机辅助设计与图形学国家重点实验室、清华大学计算机系、中科院CAD 开放实验室和中科院软件所等单位在20 世纪90年代初相继开展了可视化方向的基础研究和应用研究。我们这一代人遇到的最大困难是信息闭塞,很多信息都是从国际学术交流中取得的。例如,我是在1991 年3 月至7 月在德国Encarnacao 教授领导的弗朗霍夫图形学研究所(FhG-IGD)做访问研究,在MartinGoebel 博士领导的可视化研究室工作时接触科学计算可视化研究方向的。我有幸与研究室内一批年轻博士一起工作4 个月,奠定了从事可视化学科的基础。回国后我在浙江大学CAD&CG 国家重点实验室大力倡导,并组织年轻教师和博士生开展可视化方向的研究工作,很快出现了一批较高水平的研究成果,影响并推动了可视化研究方向在国内的普及。