Exploring Eye Movements with Node-Link Graph Layouts

Tanja Blascheck (1, 2) , Michael Burch (1, 3) , Tobias Meisel (1) , Tobias Schneider (1) , Safak Mumin (1)

1 University of Stuttgart
2 AVIZ - Analysis and Visualization
3 TU/e - Eindhoven University of Technology [Eindhoven]

Analyzing eye movement data is challenging, in particular, if visualizations are used that directly show the eye movements on the stimulus. However, it is important to identify visual scanning strategies in context of the semantics of the displayed stimulus. In this paper, we investigate the idea of providing node-link diagrams using multiple graph layouts in which each is directly linked to the visual stimulus, but represented in a separate view. Typically, a single graph layout provides specific information and has certain benefits. Hence, we propose to compare several common and easy to implement graph layout algorithms in multiple-coordinated views to extract different scanning strategies of participants. The nodes of each node-link diagram hereby model areas of interest while the weighted links denote the transitions between the areas of interest. Additionally , we illustrate the usefulness of our approach by applying it to a formerly conducted eye tracking study focusing on route finding tasks in public transportation maps.

Mots clés: Visualization; Eye Tracking; Node-Link Diagrams; Graph Layouts; Multiple-Coordinated View; Areas of Interest

Domaines: Interface homme-machine [cs.HC]

Tanja Blascheck, Michael Burch, Tobias Meisel, Tobias Schneider, Safak Mumin. Exploring Eye Movements with Node-Link Graph Layouts. Eye Tracking for Spatial Research, Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop, Jan 2018, Zürich, Switzerland. ⟨10.3929/ethz-b-000222279⟩. ⟨hal-01766812⟩