Multilevel metadata exploration using Meta-Previewer and Cascading-View widgets

This paper introduces techniques for the exploration of images augmented with additional information. We present the so-called meta-previewer and propose the cascading-views which are widgets that can assist the end-user in interactively exploring metadata embedded in augmented images. In this regard, the term Interactive Images (Sonnet et al., 2008) will refer to those augmented images which allow the end-user to request further information which is in relation to the entire image or parts of it. Using our tools, data exploration process is accomplished following three steps: (i) getting an overview of the image regions that contain additional information, (ii) requesting and displaying the additional information which is of interest, and (iii) diving into that additional information to get even more information linked with it.