StoryCake: A Hierarchical Plot Visualization Method for Storytelling in Polar Coordinates
Qiang Lü, Chai Bingjie · 2016
On the issue of how to explore the complex relationships of entities in time-series events, Storyline visualization is proved to be a useful approach. But the traditional Storyline visualization technology only applies to linear continuous story and has the limitation of reflecting the development and the hierarchical relation of the plots in a story. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical plot visualization method called StoryCake to solve this problem. Firstly, according to the story elements, all of the inter-sessions are divided into groups and the layout of the entities will be optimized in individual group. Then, the hierarchical relationships of entities in polar coordinates can be confirmed. Finally, in order to enable users better understand how the story evolves and to track the hierarchical relationship more easily, we use some skills such as interaction, labels for groups, and a fan-shaped visualization view. Experimental results show that the proposed hierarchical plot visualization method in polar coordinates not only can reveal discontinuous events and nonlinear stories, but also can present the narrative structure and development of the story.