Interaction Geography Slicer (IGS)

The IGS is an open-source, dynamic visualization tool that provides novel ways to visualize movement, conversation, and audio/video data over space and time. This tool is designed to work with movement data collected automatically through location-based technologies or manually through Mondrian Transcription Software. This page will get you started with how to use the interface, read space-time visualizations produced by this tool, and format your own data to upload and explore with the IGS. We are rapidly developing and expanding IGS features and collaborators in this effort are welcome, please reach out to us or contribute to the GitHub repo.

Interface

The image above is a screenshot from the IGS showing a teacher’s movement during a 56-minute science lesson as a purple path over a floor plan and upward in a space-time cube, where the z-axis is time and the x/y dimensions correspond to the floor plan. Stops are shown as circles on the floor plan where area indicates duration and as thick lines in the space-time view where length indicates duration. Data is from a classroom science lesson from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study (see credits below). This 3D view is one of many possible views within the IGS. The IGS’s interface consists of 4 primary components:

  1. Load Data & Sample Data Menu: where you can explore different sample datasets and import your own data

  2. Canvas: where all data is visualized in 2D or 3D views over a floor plan and a timeline

  3. Interactive Timeline: displays the time range of all imported data and can be dynamically rescaled to selectively study data

  4. Interaction Tabs: where you can selectively study and dynamically interact with data in different ways

How To Use

This demonstration video provides a brief overview of how to read and use the IGS to visually explore different datasets and load your own data. This video uses example data from Michael Jordan’s last shot and from a classroom science lesson to illustrate IGS features and concludes by showing how to load your own data.

Additional Interaction Techniques

The IGS can display data in 2D and 3D views and supports animation and interaction with data in different ways. The image above illustrates several different kinds of supported interaction techniques including the ability to: (1) animate movement paths at different speeds, (2) highlight teachers’ movement based on the lesson plan, (3) filter only stops — one can also vary the amount of time that constitutes a stop or filter only movement — and layer turns of talk when a student asks a question while the teacher is stopped — the IGS supports basic forms of word search to identify when and where words or phrases are spoken, (4) rotate the floor plan, (5) select movement and talk in regions of space by highlighting data on the floor plan — in this case movement and talk is shown at the whiteboard, (6) rescale data — in this case a five minute sequence of interaction at the whiteboard is rescaled, and (7) hover/click to read conversation turns and watch video at moments in space and time.