Graph Sketcher: Extending Illustration to Quantitative Graphs

Download

PDF - Accepted Version Download (2095Kb)

Description/Abstract

Scientists, engineers, and educators commonly need to make graphs that quickly illustrate quantitative ideas yet are not based on specific data sets. We call these graphs quantita- tive concept diagrams (QCDs). Existing charting and illus- tration programs make it possible to produce such graphs, but they are so time-consuming that users tend to sketch the graphs by hand instead. To reduce the cost of creating QCDs, we developed Graph Sketcher, a quantitative graph- ing tool that deeply integrates the data plotting capabilities of charting programs with the direct manipulation techniques of illustration programs. We show that our integrated inter- face substantially reduces the time needed to create QCDs, and we further show that real Graph Sketcher users both enjoy and take advantage of the interface improvements to create QCDs in a wide range of fields.