Augmented textual data viewing in 3D visualizations using tablets

Many data sets contain structural 3D components along with associated textual data. While structural data is often best visualized on large stereoscopic displays, such displays can pose problems presenting accompanying textual information. Chief among these problems is a tradeoff between size dependent legibility of text and the occlusion of structural data if text is presented at larger sizes. Our solution to this problem integrates structural data shown on a large display while users select features of the structure and view the associated textual data on personal tablets. Our solution also lends itself to collaborative browsing tasks. In our initial implementation each user can individually select structural components and view the associated text on their own tablet; thus, everyone becomes an active participant in data mining. When individual users find textual data they deem of interest to the group they can share it with collaborators by temporarily pushing the text box to the large display. The current status and each individual's browsing history are shown on the large display in order to provide awareness of other team members' actions.